


Experiments In Government

by Cerdic519



Series: The British Revolution [12]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: 17th Century, Army, Battle, Boats and Ships, Costumes, England (Country), English Civil War, Exhaustion, F/M, Friendship, Gay Sex, Inheritance, London, Love, M/M, Nobility, Northumberland, Oxfordshire, Parliament (UK), Politics, Pride, Religion, Royalty, Scheming, Scotland, Secrets, Stucky - Freeform, revolts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:14:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26911966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerdic519/pseuds/Cerdic519
Summary: September 1651 to September 1658.The Interregnum, in which Oliver Cromwell struggles to reconcile what is morally right with a bunch of self-serving crooks (or the Rump Parliament as they are also called), and in the end just dismisses them. There then ensues a number of attempts to govern England without a king and very nearly one with a King Oliver, but in the end time runs out even for Old Ironsides. Now what?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, minor Quicksilver/Bruce Banner, minor Thor/OMC
Series: The British Revolution [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809640
Kudos: 3





	1. Contents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sleepby21](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepby21/gifts), [imwinter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imwinter/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contents page.

A.D. 1651 (continued)  
_155\. Follow Those Ships!_

A.D. 1652  
_156\. Into Oblivion_  
_157\. Honours And Cushions_  
_158\. Knock And Roll_

A.D. 1653  
_159\. Impressing_  
_160\. In The Name Of God, Go!_  
_161\. Stops And Stroppiness_  
_162\. Make Way For The Instrument_

A.D. 1654  
_163\. Risks And Reflections_  
_164\. Knots And Knockabouts_  
_165\. A Cuckoo In The Nest_  
_166\. But What Is A Room?_

A.D. 1655  
_167\. Action And Reaction_  
_168\. Flattening_  
_169\. Difficile Et Longum_

A.D. 1656  
_170\. Money Talks_  
_171\. A Lowland Fling_  
_172\. T's And C's_

A.D. 1657  
_173\. King Olly?_  
_174\. Successions And Salami_  
_175\. Dunkirk Or Bust_

A.D. 1658  
_176\. The Bare Necessities_  
_177\. A Dark And Stormy Night_

MDCLI-MDCLVIII


	2. Follow Those Ships!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September-December 1651.  
> After the disaster of Worcester the Royalist cause is surely shattered, although possibly not quite as shattered as a certain Oxfordshire nobleman who faces both an embarrassing situation and a surprise familial revelation. The mopping up of the last Royalist garrisons reaches the French coast, and young Edward loses an ill-advised wager.

**September 1651**  
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Edward looked disapprovingly at Jamie as the fellow strode into the breakfast room, grabbed a tray and started sorting out two plates of food.

“Has my lord said what happened to the king?” he asked.

“No idea”, Jamie said. “Our lord has not really been up for talking much.”

Edward sighed.

“He has been back a day and a half”, he said. “You have not even bothered to ask him yet?”

“The king must have gotten away because he looked happy”, Jamie said dismissively as he filled two plates with food. “At least he looked happy when he came through the door after which I had other things to worry about. So did he!”

Edward just shook his head as the soldier strode from the room. The fellow was terrible! And worse, another day and he would lose his bet with Thunor; she had gone for four days while he, perhaps foolishly, had only thought two before his guardian would be seen downstairs. Either way, Mr. Buchanan really did not need to whistle the tune of 'I'm getting lucky in the morning' as he mounted the stairs. 

However true that likely was.

The young man sighed and went back to his own breakfast. He had meant to pass on the latest news-sheet to his guardian, but he strongly suspected that the fall of Aberdeen was fairly low on the fellow's list of priorities just now. The fall of a certain nobleman outranked it and then some!

MDCLI

**October 1651**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It is all very well the Dutch whining that we are being difficult”, Stephen said as he read the latest news-sheet. “They were the ones who murdered Doctor Dorislaus.”

Jamie yawned, then looked hungrily at his lover. Edward coughed pointedly from where he was going through the estate accounts, which would soon be his responsibility. The soldier just shrugged his shoulders, totally unabashed as per usual.

“Who was Doctor Dorislaus?” Edward asked.

“A lawyer who helped drew up the charges against the late king”, Stephen said, shifting uneasily in his chair under his lover's gaze. “It was perhaps a bit tempting fate when the Commonwealth appointed him their representative to the United Provinces; he was murdered by some Royalists in The Hague and the Dutch did not exactly put themselves out to find his killers.”

“More like they looked the other way and whistled loudly”, Jamie said. “A foolish error on their part; there are many at Westminster who are looking for an excuse to take them on, and in war the one thing that you do not is to give your enemy a _causus belli.”_

“There was also the fact that they pretty much insulted St. John when he went over for talks earlier in the year”, Stephen said. “They seem to be betting on the fact that because so many at Westminster are not skilled in politics, defeating England will be easy. I rather think that they will find them unskilled in politics but more than making up for it in war.”

“We are rather too close to war with the French as it is”, Jamie said, “especially after they helped Prince Rupert repair his fleet. I am tired, Ste. I think that I will go for a quick lie down.”

Stephen looked hopefully across at his young charge. Hopefully, not piteously despite some soldier's smirk.

“I should demand payment for this!” the young man grumbled as he laid aside his accounts, “but I doubt that you could afford it! Give me time to get out of the house at least!”

MDCLI

They did. Barely!

MDCLI

**November 1651**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It is like one of those graphs that Eddie does in his mathematics”, Stephen observed. “Edging ever closer to the line but never quite reaching it. This taking of Limerick gets us another step closer to securing Ireland, yet still the rebels persist.”

“I know war”, Jamie said. “Some men will never stop fighting, no matter what the odds against them. Most though just want peace and will do whatever it takes to have a quiet life, although they will still do what they can to be annoying if they can do so without risking themselves at all. Like all those people who helped the king escape after Worcester; any of them could have betrayed him and for the money on offer they must have been sorely tempted, yet they held to their monarch.”

“At this rate Scotland will be secure before Ireland”, Stephen sighed. “I can understand such an approach, I suppose. It would be nice to have a year of peace for a change.”

“Or you could go out the door and we could re-enact your return after Worcester?” Jamie said hopefully.

Stephen looked round for something to throw at the horn-dog. That had been four long and hard days, and his arse still trembled at the memory! To cap it all he had a strong suspicion that Edward and Thunor had been betting on his return; he was sure that he had caught the young man scowling as he had handed over money to his future wife. No respect for their elders, some people!

MDCLI

**November 1651**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

They had an unexpected visitor that day. A certain military visitor.

“I had to get away from London before I throttled some of them!” Cromwell said exasperatedly, “so I invented rumours of unrest at the Oxford garrison which I had to go and suppress. Also it enabled me to call in on Anne and her family.”

“We are glad to see you”, Stephen said, hoping desperately that Jamie did not say anything. “What problems are there in the capital?”

Their visitor sighed heavily.

“The Council told parliament that they needed to get a move on and arrange some elections”, he said. “Barely a hundred of them there, and with the rules banning Royalists from standing there was no reason to keep delaying. You can imagine my reaction when I heard the other day that they agreed to end their sitting – _by the end of Fifty-Four, three years from now!”_

Stephen sighed. It seemed that at least some things did not change.

“So”, his in-law said casually, “I heard that Mr. Buchanan had the chickenpox in September.”

Both men were on their guard at once. The general chuckled.

“Really?” he said. “You think that I did not know? Why did you think I had one of my messengers let you know about Worcester immediately it happened?”

Stephen stared at him in astonishment.

“You knew that we would try to help the king escape?” he asked.

Too late he realized that he had referred to Charles Stuart as the king, in front of this man. Not a smart move. Fortunately Cromwell just shook his head at them both.

“Gentlemen”, he said, “let me remind you of the difference between the late king and one of his predecessors. Both Charles Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor believed in God's will, but she knew that God sometimes needed the odd 'helping hand', shall we say? I hope and pray that we can run this country without a king, although I am beginning to see that it will not be easy. But that does not mean that I should not keep other options in reserve.”

“You were watching us”, Jamie said slowly.

“Of course I was!” Cromwell said scornfully. “I cannot hold my current position without knowing a whole lot of things, although that pox catching you and this fellow going off in your stead, I admit that that caught me off guard. I did enjoy your bobbing and weaving around the country to throw me off the track; I took great enjoyment in sending furious demands that your 'sightings' in the West Country be followed up on. And in arranging a few things, such as those guards at the Sussex watch post who got offered free food and drink at the same time as they had just been told that you were safely down in Cornwall.”

Both men were astounded.

“I suppose that I must be back to London”, Cromwell sighed. “Oh, one more thing before I go, Mr. Buchanan.”

“Yes sir”, Jamie said.

“Your cousin the late Montrose's son is planning to petition me in January for his title and some of his father's lands”, Cromwell said. “I am minded to say yes, but he is a bit of a wayward young fellow so you had better keep an eye on him; I know the sort and I fear that success may go to his head. Good day, gentlemen!”

He bowed and left them.

MDCLI

**December 1651**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Blake has retaken the Channel Islands from Carteret¹”, Stephen told Jamie as they lay together after definitely not having celebrated anything to mark the end of the year. “That will remind the French that the power of English Navy can be brought to their shores.”

“Guernsey was pretty much ours anyway except for the fortress at Castle Cornet”, Jamie said as he read the news-sheet himself. “This is funny; Carteret had men defending against a landing so Blake simply sailed his ships up and down the coast until the defenders were too worn out to follow him!”

“I am sure that we only defend those islands to annoy the French”, Stephen said. “Come to that, they might make some claim on them now. They were always a personal possession of the monarch from the time they had also been Duke of Normandy, and we have no king now.”

“For now”, Jamie said.

MDCLI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) George Carteret (b. 1610). The future King Charles the Second learned of his father's execution on Jersey and was proclaimed king there. Upon the Restoration he granted his brother James Duke of York (later James the Seventh and Second) a swathe of land bordering the New Netherlands in North America. James then sold some of it to Carteret, who named the province New Jersey, and two of the towns were called Carteret and Elizabeth (his wife). Unusually it was settled mostly by people 'spilling over' from New England and Virginia which led in 1674 to its partition into East and West Jersey, but failure to agree on a border and violence between the two halves led to reunion in 1702._


	3. Into Oblivion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-May 1652.   
> The new government makes a mess of foreign relations, and soon there is a nice new war with the Dutch, frosty relations with the French, and a randy member of parliament who does something absolutely unforgivable! Some things are cast into Oblivion and if a certain Winter Soldier keeps up keeping it up, a certain Oxfordshire nobleman may well end up being one of them!

**January 1652**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Another letter from Cromwell?” Jamie asked. The Definitely Not A Festive Season had ended, and the estate had gone back to normal. The workers had been particularly cheered that a good harvest the previous year had enabled an extra sack of coal to be handed out to each household; as Edward said the workers were expected to work harder in the bad times so it was only fair that they benefited in the good.

_(His guardian may or may not have hoped that some of their less pleasant neighbours heard of these words, as the shock of such a belief might just succeed in ending them!)._

Stephen looked across at his lover rather oddly.

“Montrose's son came to him just before he wrote this and was given his father's title back”, he said. “Not all his lands – that was impossible – but enough to live off.”

“He did say he would do that”, Jamie said. “I am glad your in-law is safely away in London, though. The fellow is far too smart for my liking.”

“Indeed”, Stephen said. “He says that he hopes we had an enjoyable time meeting up with Luke and Anne over the New Year.”

“He knew that we were going to do that, too”, Jamie said dismissively.

“And that he hopes you take care when, and I quote, 'using that fourth Special Box of yours'.”

Jamie turned bright red. Stephen looked pointedly at him.

“You have been assembling a _fourth_ box?” he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

“Sort of”, his lover said quietly.

 _”Sort of?”_ Stephen asked incredulously.

Jamie just snickered.

“And Cromwell knows about it!” Stephen exclaimed. “What the hell; does he have someone under our bed or something?”

“Actually I keep it in.... oh, I see what you mean.”

Stephen put his head in his hands. Seriously, this was his life?

MDCLII

**February 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“My former colleagues at Westminster are pushing their luck”, Stephen said with a sigh. “This Act of Pardon and Oblivion has more holes in it than a sieve.”

“Badly worded?” Jamie asked.

“Cruelly worded”, Stephen said. “Remember how Fairfax spared many of his men's lives by his generous dealings at the end of the first war?”

“Seems a lifetime ago, but yes”, Jamie said. “What of it?”

“Parliament has decided to rat on those deals because it wants the money for the Navy”, Stephen sighed. “I know that we need a fleet but we would not need such a large one if they were not off upsetting everyone on the Continent at one and the same time!”

“They probably do not realize just how important honour is to us soldiers”, Jamie said fairly. “They just think of us as killing machines, to be unleashed on the enemy then paid off and forgotten about. Well, sometimes paid off.”

“At least Cromwell has gotten the restoration of Montrose's son through parliament”, Stephen said. The new marquis had written Jamie a long letter of thanks which the soldier had, he knew, had greatly appreciated.

Jamie shuddered.

“Do not mention your in-law!” he muttered. “I am still trying to work out how he knew about our bedroom antics!”

MDCLII

**March 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Relations with the Dutch are getting worse”, Stephen sighed, “and we have nearly had war with the French on top of it all.”

“How so?” Jamie asked.

“For all his modern thinking, Cromwell lusts after having a port on the Continent in English hands from which he can exert greater control over the Channel”, Stephen said. “He had his eyes on Dunkirk which the Spanish have been trying to take back and did offer to buy it from the French; they refused but now they have lost it anyway. Which means we may have those damn pirates back in the Channel!”

Jamie tutted disapprovingly.

“You mean _privateers_ , my liege”, he corrected. “State-funded pirates maybe, but perfectly legal – provided they cannot be traced back to the state that funds them.”

“I know; pretty much what Elizabeth did in her day”, Stephen conceded. “But we do not need war abroad when we finally have peace at home, even if it is a sullen peace at the end of a gun.”

“A sullen and a fragile one”, Jamie said, “dependent on the continued heartbeat of one man, your in-law. It worries me that no-one seems to have given any thought to what might happen if he suddenly died. The Three Kingdoms could well fall back into chaos.”

“I would wager that Lambert has planned for just such a thing”, Stephen said. “Thankfully he is loyal to his master but as you said is also ambitious; if he does not make a tilt for power once Cromwell is gone then I will eat my hat!”

MDCLII

**April 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The Barbadoes surrendered back in January”, Stephen told his lover, “but news has only just reached us.”

“That will dispirit Prince Rupert then”, Jamie said. “It was far and away the most profitable part of the Royalist kingdom beyond the seas. The other colonies for all they are mostly bigger will soon follow.”

“One day they will want their own nation, what with their rising population¹”, Stephen said. “Especially now we have peace here and parliament seems all too happy to allow men and women to sail off to a new life without first checking their mental baggage for 'unacceptable' beliefs.”

"You mean, unlike the late king did", Jamie said.

“True”, Stephen said. “We can hardly rule them from thousands of miles away, and they will want the same sort of representation that parliament has. Well, sort of has.”

“Yes, the wonderful Rump”, Jamie said. “Which reminds me; it is several hours since I last had your rump, my liege!”

Stephen just shook his head at the rogue.

MDCLII

**April 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie looked at his lover in surprise.

“I thought you said that Cromwell was all in favour of this Act of Union with the Scots”, he said.

“I had thought so”, Stephen said, “but he did not raise any objections when parliament sent it to a committee for analysis.”

The soldier looked at him in confusion.

“And?” he asked.

“An old parliamentary saying”, Stephen smiled, “if you want to strangle a bill, send it to a committee for analysis. It will likely never see the light of day again².”

“Like Pym did with the Root and Branch Bill way back at the start of all this”, Jamie recalled.

“Poor Pym”, Stephen said. “I wonder what he would have made of all this. Then again perhaps it was for the best; he clung to the belief that some sort of deal could be struck with the late king, which others among us knew could never happen.”

“Others being a polite term for 'realists'”, Jamie said.

MDCLII

**May 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“You think that there may be more to this?” Jamie asked.

Stephen nodded.

“We may be living in a more godly age”, he said, “but powerful men will still abuse their power and behave badly. Clement³ being found in bed with a maidservant is arguably grounds for his expulsion from the house but I would wager that there is far worse going on that we do not hear of.”

“You could always write to Diana and ask her to provide the local news-sheets with a list?” Jamie suggested mischievously.

“Then I would have to explain to Cromwell why the already small Rump is suddenly down to half a dozen members if that!” Stephen retorted. “No, Clement was not liked by several men in the Army and I am sure that they were all too happy to use this as an excuse to get rid of him.”

“Back-stabbers the lot of them”, Jamie sighed. “Some things do not change.”

“One thing has”, Stephen said. “The Confederate Irish have formally surrendered, ending the war there apart from a small number of Tory resistance fighters.”

“Who will achieve nothing except to cost more innocent men their lives”, Jamie said. “As I said, some things do not change – and that includes the sheer stupidity of Mankind!”

MDCLII

**May 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Well, parliament has indeed managed to get us into a war with the Dutch”, Stephen sighed as he read the latest news from London. “The country we spent money and lives helping to liberate from the Spanish.”

“And whose infant ruler is the cousin of the king”, Jamie pointed out.

“The royal dynasties of the Continent marry each other so often that everyone is someone else's cousin”, Stephen said dismissively. “And a baby cannot run a country; it is the Dutch merchants who drive the United Provinces just now. It is a pity they cannot see that war will hardly be good for their trade.”

“I thought that the war had been official started some weeks ago?” Jamie asked.

“This is news of the first actual battle, on the Goodwin Sands hard by Dover”, Stephen said. “Blake won, thankfully, but it still seems pointless.”

“Some of my countrymen might disagree with you on that”, Jamie said. “The Orcadians in particular; they are often harassed by the Dutch. If only they would agree to stop such annoyances then we might have peace, but for now the cannons must roar at each other until the diplomats can start to jaw at each other.”

“War is hard”, Stephen sighed.

“But I am harder!” Jamie grinned, rising to his feet. “Time for some afternoon exercise, my liege!”

The nobleman grinned and followed him from the room.

MDCLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) It is estimated that the population of English North America rose from about 5,000 in 1630 to 20,000 in 1640, 50,000 in 1650 and 75,000 in 1660._   
>  _2) Stephen was being utterly cynical here. And as it turned out, utterly correct._   
>  _3) Gregory Clement (b. 1594), member for Fowey in Cornwall. His removal was indeed almost certainly engineered by his political enemies, something that would never happen tod.... er....._


	4. Honours And Cushions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June-September 1652.   
> Some Honours go 'missing'. The Royalist North American colonies are reconquered, and parliament pushes on with a war against the Dutch that is definitely solely not to prevent Cromwell from dissolving them, no sir! Stephen's young cousin gets married but both the nobleman and his Winter Soldier are on their best behaviour (sic). And a certain nobleman does not mind being treated like a cushion if it makes his lover happy.

**June 1652**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Dunottar”, Stephen mused. “Where is that?”

“In Kincardineshire, a way south of Aberdeen”, Jamie said. “What of it?”

“It is listed as the last of the castles held for the king to have surrendered”, Stephen said. “Hardly unexpected.”

His lover smiled knowingly.

“Is that all they say?” he asked.

“Yes”, Stephen said. “Why do you ask?”

“It was where the Honours of Scotland¹ – what you would call the Crown Jewels down here – were kept”, he said. “If they have not mentioned them then they were clearly spirited away in time. Very odd.”

“Why so?” Stephen asked.

“Cromwell”, Jamie said. “A man who knows so much about everything yet somehow he 'failed' to get his hands on them as he did their English equivalents. One wonders if he failed deliberately.”

“You mean looking the other way”, Stephen said. “Possibly. We can but hope that one day they are wielded again by the king in waiting.”

MDCLII

**June 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The last North American mainland rebel colonies have surrendered”, Stephen told Jamie as they enjoyed the summer sun at the large window. It had been a glorious year weather-wise at least here in the south, although the nobleman's elder brother had written that things were not going so well up in Northumberland, and that Scotland was suffering a particularly bad year.

“Virginia and Maryland both named after queens”, Jamie mused. “One arguably the greatest monarch we ever had, the other one of the worst consorts who helped cause the country's recent troubles with her attitude.”

“Did you hear that she actually approached Cromwell for a pension as a former queen?” Stephen smiled. “The cheek of the woman, especially as we all know the French fund her court most generously.”

“And being Cromwell, he declined on the grounds that she had never been crowned!” Jamie chuckled. “Her little hissy-fit smashing windows with her bare fists when she found she would have to actually attend a _Protestant_ coronation, all coming back to bite her.”

“More people will be wanting to strike out for the New World soon”, Stephen said. “The Partridges over in Daring have asked if they can leave the estate's service.”

“Many lords would say no”, Jamie observed. “Not that that could stop them decamping in the night, I suppose, but better to go with the master's blessing and not to have to fear being dragged back. Or that the owners of the ship they leave on becoming liable in the courts, as we have seen happen.”

“A man kept against his will is little more than a slave!” Stephen scoffed. 

His lover looked thoughtfully at him.

“What?” Stephen asked.

“Now that you mention slaves”, Jamie grinned, “that sets me thinking. Perhaps I need to dig out those handcuffs?”

The nobleman tried hard to control his suddenly increased breathing. And failed. Spectacularly.

MDCLII

**July 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I admire Cromwell in some ways”, Jamie admitted as he read the general's latest letter from London. “Given the exasperation of having to deal with soldiers _and_ politicians, it is clever the way he swears without using swear words.”

“I do wonder if he sometimes takes himself off to some remote place where he can vent his feelings without being overheard”, Stephen admitted. “I cannot see his patience with the Rump lasting much longer; he may have moved against them sooner had not this Dutch War come along.”

“Only a total cynic would suggest that one reason parliament started this war was to prevent their dissolution!” Jamie said, looking far too innocently at his lover.

Stephen opened his mouth to refute the bastard's argument, then found that he could not. He scowled at him instead.

“Never mind”, Jamie said consolingly. “Instead I shall have to look to my own chances to vent my emotions. To really let rip on someone who is prepared to just lie back and take it like a man....”

He grinned. His lover was already at the door!

MDCLII

**July 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I suppose that that is one way to help end a naval war”, Jamie said. “Run your fleet into a storm and lose half of it.”

Stephen groaned as he tried to find some comfortable way of sitting down. And failed.

“Do not talk about ends!” he grumbled. “Especially when mine is no longer talking to me!”

The soldier sniggered unashamedly.

“I do pity poor Tromp, though”, he said. “He is a soldier's soldier, or perhaps I should say a sailor's sailor. He is facing the same sort of problems that so many faced in our own troubles, to wit a lot of rich people trying to run a navy on the cheap.”

“He has rather less of a navy to run now all right”, Stephen agreed. “Ow!”

He glared at his lover, whose innocent expression was several miles beyond believable.

MDCLII

**July 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Stephen did not snigger. And not just because he was afraid of the icy stare that he and Jamie were both getting from across the church.

They were at the wedding of Stephen's cousin Odin, Baldur's eldest son who was marrying Captain Quicksilver's younger sister Jane. Normally both men hated formal affairs, and this one had been made infinitely worse by Thunor turning up to collect her future husband and taking the opportunity to tell them what she would do if either of them marred her brother's big day in any way. It had involved a toasting-fork!

She was now glaring suspiciously at Jamie, who was doing his best not to look guilty.

I am sure”, the soldier whispered, “that we can mark the great day in our own special way later.”

Stephen shuddered at the prospect, then winced as he realized that Edward too was staring at them. Seriously, it was not as if they had had constant and loud sex all the time the fellow had been growing up... oh.

Ah well, later there would be a reception and food laid on by the groom's father, looking as dopey as ever. And perhaps they could manage to slip away early....

Damnation, now Thunor was shaking her head at them both!

MDCLII

**August 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“An attempt to intercept a Dutch convoy off Plymouth has failed”, Stephen told Jamie as he read the latest news-sheet.

“That is surprising in one way”, his lover said. “We should have the advantage after that storm, but then it is one of the rules of warfare that numbers are not always decisive.”

“Like at Dunbar”, Stephen said abstractedly.

Too late he realized that the aftermath of that particular battle bore some terrible memories for Jamie, and he looked up quickly to see his lover's face darkening. He quickly gestured to the couch where he was sitting and the soldier seemed to almost fly across the room into his lover's embrace. It was good to see him relaxing, even if he did always seem to treat the nobleman like some sort of cushion to be pushed and prodded into position until he was comfortable.

So Stephen liked it. And?

“Discipline is much easier to enforce on land than on sea”, Jamie said. “A commander can hardly nip over to all the other ships and tell them that he has changed his mind and is now using attack pattern beta rather than attack pattern alpha. There are signal flags I suppose, but that takes ages.”

“Perhaps one day that will be possible”, Stephen said, smiling to himself as he felt the Buckmaster rising to attention. “I could visit Adey up in Northumberland and you could send me messages telling me how much you miss me.”

Too late did he see the opening he had left there.

“A very specific type of messages”, Jamie grinned, “telling you exactly what I would do, using which items from our boxes and for how long!”

Stephen just sighed. His lover was incorrigible – fortunately!

MDCLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) The Honours survived through to the Restoration and today are the oldest British Crown regalia, their English equivalents having been nearly all sold off by parliament. The oldest part, the sceptre, dates from 1494 and played its own part in this story; by tradition a law passed by the Scottish parliament only gained Royal Assent when the king touched the document with the sceptre, and Charles's failure to do so when one controversial bill passed had angered many of his barons around his 1633 coronation._


	5. Knock And Roll

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September-December 1652.  
> Stephen and Jamie both wonder about the escape of a young man from the Tower of London. The nobleman sends more than a basket of fruit to his brother up in Northumberland and receives some welcome news in return, while a certain royal personage dies. And the Crackdown On Christmas continues with its usual degree of success (i.e. none).

**September 1652**  
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Again, I wonder”, Stephen said. “Cromwell may disagree with his political opponents and even dislike some of them, but he respects an honourable soldier. And few are more so than Massey.”

“I would wager that many in parliament have other words for him, after he has embarrassed them so”, Jamie observed. “Escaping from the Tower like that; they know that he will already be with the king plotting the next move to try to restore his master to power.”

“But one has to admire his loyalty, whatever side you are on”, Stephen said. “I mean, that long and stubborn defence of Gloucester which cost the late king the chance to march on London, then standing up for the rights of monarchy as an institution. And after Worcester, when he made the king abandon him because he knew that he was slowing him down¹.”

“Parliament will simply think of that as him betraying them by changing sides”, Jamie said shortly, “and will hate him for making them look foolish.”

“You should never underestimate the ability of some people to rewrite history”, Stephen agreed, “and leave out the bits that they do not find palatable. If the king is ever restored then he and his supporters will do exactly the same to their enemies.”

“War is simple when compared to politics”, Jamie said with a sigh.

“True”, his lover agreed, “although the divide is not always as wide as it should be.”

“Whereas sex is even simpler!” Jamie grinned. “Ready?”

Stephen rolled his eyes, but hurried to comply.

MDCLII

**September 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Cromwell has asked us if we can spare some fruit to help the North”, Stephen told Jamie one day.

“Why only fruit?” Jamie asked. “Do they not need grain?”

“Yes, but he has the stocks to cope with that”, Stephen said. “It if the fruit harvest that is the problem; that has failed almost completely up there. If we send stocks to London then they can ship some of their own to the affected areas. With the dreadful state of the roads that is the best way for us to help.”

“I thought that you wanted to send some to Adey?” Jamie asked.

“We have enough for both”, Stephen said, “and Edward has given his approval. It says something about our transport systems that goods sent on a two hundred mile journey by land will likely take longer than other goods going twice as far mostly by ship.”

“I hope Adey is all right”, Jamie said. “I know he goes to Newcastle on business from time to time, and there was plague reported there the other week.”

“That was just the news-sheets getting it wrong, luckily”, Stephen said. “I sent to Cromwell to ask about it and he sent back that it was the Newcastle in Staffordshire, not the one in Northumberland.”

“The modern media”, Jamie sighed. “Barely started and yet not checking their facts. They need to be like me.”

The nobleman looked at him in confusion.

“In getting a grip”, Jamie grinned. “Like I did when you worse the harness last night!”

Stephen blushed fiercely.

MDCLII

**September 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Where the blazes is this 'Kentish Knock'?”

Jamie looked up at his lover's exclamation.

“It is an area off the north Kent coast, east of where the Thames starts”, he said. “Some men I fought with in Germany told me of it; they said that it is a graveyard for ships whose captains are unwary as they can get caught on the shallow shoals.”

“There has been a huge battle fought against the Dutch there”, Stephen said. “Over sixty ships on each side; minor losses on both sides but the Dutch have been driven off.”

“This really needs to end!” Jamie said exasperatedly. “We are too evenly matched, yet alone being two Protestant republics on the fringes of the Continent. If we are not careful then our Catholic enemies will be able to pick us off one at a time. And why the hell are we fighting down in Italy at this time? We need all our ships in one place if we are to come through this.”

“The Grand Dukes of Tuscany³ became British allies in rivalry with other princes on the peninsula”, Stephen explained, “and the Dutch tried successfully to break that understanding as a base there helps our trade with the Orient. Hence the current grand duke has sided with Dutch and closed his ports to us.”

“Unwise, given this government's tendency to declare war at the drop of a hat”, Jamie said. “He may live to regret that.”

MDCLII

**November 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Once again, you have to be impressed at how Cromwell can swear without swearing”, Jamie grinned. “Though he certainly has cause this time.”

“The Council of State cannot say that he did not warn them”, Stephen agreed. “And sending a couple of dozen ships to the Mediterranean seems a foolish decision on both levels; it will not be enough to do much against a merchant state like Tuscany while the Dutch ships there will avoid battle if they have any sense, yet it weakened the main fleet defending these shores. And this defeat off Dungeness is the unhappy consequence!”

“I am sure the politicians are working flat out to find someone else to blame”, Jamie said. “Oops, I mis-spoke there – I meant to say, working flat out to remedy the situation.”

Stephen rolled his eyes at the snarky bastard.

“Blake has certainly given them what-for after the performance of the impressed merchantmen in the battle”, he said. “Quite right too; we need proper warships, not traders with a few pop-guns stuck on!”

Jamie just looked at him.

“What?” Stephen asked.

“You get even sexier when you are angry!” Jamie grinned, rising to his feet.

“Must you make everything about sex?” Stephen asked, trying not to smile.

“Yes.”

The nobleman sighed, but followed his insatiable lover upstairs. Another afternoon where he would have to lie back and think of England – for at least as long as he was able to think, that was!

MDCLII

**November 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I wish that I could have been there”, Stephen admitted to his lover as they lay together that morning, “but the way the roads are, I do not feel safe making a journey that is just for pleasure.”

“Better stay here and I can 'pleasure' you!” Jamie grinned.

That deserved and got a major eye-roll.

“Theodric marrying one of the mighty Greys² is certainly moving us humble Amerikes up in the world”, Stephen said. “Soon there will be the patter of tiny feet and the next generation.”

He blushed as he said that. Jamie snickered unhelpfully.

“Yes, I know that you have Luke while the chances of me ever having offspring are, to put it mildly, remote”, he said. “But I have something far better. I have a man who loves me more than life itself. One who showed that last year by putting his own life on the line to stand in for me and help the king escape.”

“Sap”, Stephen smiled.

“Plus a man who will be going to this Sunday's service wearing his harness”, Jamie grinned, “while knowing that I will be teasing him throughout the whole. Damn. Service!”

Stephen suddenly had difficulty breathing. Damn sexy soldier-lovers!

MDCLII

**December 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Poor Prince Rupert”, Stephen said as he read the news. “He must be finding out as we are, three months late.”

A late summer storm in the tempestuous seas of the New World had claimed the life of the fighting prince's younger brother Maurice, who had gone down with his ship. A merchantman had brought the news to London, and since Prince Rupert was known to be working his way over to the Caribbean he must surely have learned of it too.

“A terrible thing, to lose a brother”, Stephen said.

“Johnnie?” Jamie asked at once.

The nobleman knew that there was a perfectly good counter-argument to that. 

Somewhere. 

It would come to him.

Eventually.

MDCLII

**December 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I wish these news-sheets would remember that it is their task to provide us with news”, Stephen sighed.

“They have”, Jamie pointed out. “France finally recognizing the Commonwealth – about time – and Portugal agreeing to pay us for supporting Rupert that time.”

“I meant this thing about the Commons cracking down on Christmas”, Stephen said. “Every year they tell the mayor of London to get a grip, the soldiers go round looking for anyone even remotely having fun, and every year people celebrate anyway.”

“It reminds me of an officer I once knew”, Jamie said. “He took listening to his men way too far, and basically let them decide what to do before running round to lead them into it.”

“That is just a small group of men”, Stephen pointed out. “You can hardly tell a whole country that they cannot have their one fun time a year because you do not like it. And this going round to arrest actors is mad!”

“You might think that their having to remind the mayor that it is still happening every year might have sunk into their thick skulls by now”, Jamie said. “But that is politicians for you.”

Stephen stared at his lover suspiciously.

MDCLII

**December 1652**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

There was one further development before the end of the year, a small but welcome one. A letter from Cromwell arrived asking if Jamie might be prepared to exchange his Scottish estate for one only a few miles from Stalwarton. An officer friend of the general had acquired all the land around Jamie's village and hoped that he might agree to the swap with a slightly smaller one that he held around the village of Enstone, on the road to Chipping Norton. Jamie was amenable so the paperwork was signed and dispatched back to London.

Then the bastard celebrated his new acquisition. Stephen had to wonder if he was going to live to see forty-five, let alone fifty!

MDCLII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Edward Massey, then thirty-two, had been severely injured in the engagement at Upton-upon-Severn a few days before Worcester so did not fight in the actual battle, and made the king abandon him at Droitwich only a little way into his flight._   
>  _2) The family had featured Reynold, Lord Grey (responsible for inciting Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh revolt in the early fifteenth century) and Lady Jane Grey (The 'Nine Days Queen') and would later include British prime minister Charles, Earl Grey, oddly more famous for a tea once given to him as a gift rather than trifling things like ending the slave trade and forcing through the Great Reform Act. Their lands were mostly midlands-based but their home was at Howick Hall in Northumberland, only a few miles north-east of their Percy rivals at Alnwick._   
>  _3) Tuscany (the area around Leghorn, Pisa, Siena and Florence in north-west Italy) feared the expansionist Spanish who held the neighbouring Duchy of Milan, as well as resenting the secular power of the Papal States to the south and east who for obvious reasons hated the heretical English. The current duke, the de Medici Ferdinando the Second (ruled 1621-1670), was an incompetent ruler who oversaw the decline of his country._


	6. Impressing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-April 1653.   
> There are plans for a sort-of retirement, and a rich Lobster ensures that he stays a rich Lobster. A lot of men are not impressed at being impressed, and Edward finally weds Thunor – which means that an overly-emotional Winter Soldier will soon have a lot of sexual frustration to work out on some 'lucky' nobleman!

**January 1653**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Cromwell writes that he cannot hold back his officers much longer”, Stephen told Jamie as they enjoyed a quiet morning in bed together. The first five days of the year had seen heavy snowfalls and there was little point in venturing outside until at least some of the stuff had melted. Also Jamie was sulking because Thunor had come over and told him that once she moved into the Hall after her marriage to Edward come spring, the soldier would not be allowed to make any more anatomically-correct snowmen.

Stephen's lover was unusually silent. The nobleman looked at him curiously.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Captain Quicksilver did ask if there were any houses being freed up in the village”, he said. “Bruce's mother has never really recovered from his father's death last year and he worries about her.”

“Not that I am aware of”, Stephen said, “although I can ask Chatton to make sure.”

Jamie hesitated again.

“I was just thinking”, he said slowly. “Thunor will marry Edward this spring and they will soon have children of their own. This will be their home, and I.... I would like for us to have our own place.”

If Stephen had been cruel he would have used a phrase like 'how romantic!' at this point, but he knew that his lover would have hated it. Jamie was all man, as his aching arse could well attest to this cold if fine morning!

“I had been thinking of turning part of the stables into accommodation”, Stephen said instead, “and they back onto the village. If we did that then Bruce and Peter could move in there, and we could have their cottage.”

“And I can build more snowmen free of Queen Thunor's icy gaze”, Jamie grinned, rolling himself on top of the nobleman and beginning to rub their bodies together. “Perhaps both she and Edward might even hear you scream as we 'christen' all the rooms!” 

“You think of nothing but sex!” Stephen sighed.

“Aye”, Jamie agreed, stepping up his pace. “'Aint..... life..... grand?”

For Stephen Roger Amerike, it very soon was!

MDCLIII

**February 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Of course that is what you do when you have the real leader of the country annoyed at your money-grubbing ways”, Jamie said scornfully. “Go and prove him right!”

“Heselrige has made a bad move”, Stephen agreed. “And the claims made in the pro-parliament news-sheets that he talked out the bill for poor relief 'because he wanted something better' – why, then, did he not have something to hand?”

“Because the only relief the old Lobster was considering was that of his own wallet”, Jamie said. “Like all of them. It is over ten years since the late king marched into parliament with a band of soldiers to arrest his opponents, though it does not seem like it. As we have said before, if they are not careful they will find that the same thing happens again ere long!”

MDCLIII

**February 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Another bruising encounter¹ with the Dutch in the Channel”, Stephen sighed. “We destroyed some of their ships but could not get at the convoy that they were escorting, which means that they will have the money to continue the war.”

“It does not help that our government is such a shambles and cannot manage a peace deal that would end this pointless fighting”, Jamie said. “But then the likes of Heselrige are too busy looking after their wallets to worry about men's lives.”

“Luke came over earlier”, Stephen said, “and told me that Anne had heard from her father. She said that he sounded bitterly depressed over everything, and was indeed minded to put an end to the Rump.”

“Subverting democracy like that is terrible!" Jamie snarked. “That sort of thing might well start a war, you know!”

Stephen just rolled his eyes at the snarky bastard.

MDCLIII

**March 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It looks like those reinforcements we sent to the Mediterranean did indeed fail on both levels”, Stephen told Jamie. “We not only lost as Dungeness but our forces outside Leghorn have been beaten before the extra ships could reach them.”

They were walking back to the Hall having gone over to see Captain Quicksilver about the prospective new house at the back of the stables. And also to see how he was recovering after having sprained his ankle, which had (Stephen had only found out during their visit) been caused by a certain fellow still with him sharing the contents of some of their Special Boxes. That likely also explained the dazed expression on the young soldier's face, and the fact that he had shrieked when he had tried to rise in order to greet them!

Stephen knew that many landlords in his position would quite cheerfully have taken this cottage and expected their former tenants to sort out the stables as a place for themselves, even if that involved sleeping on straw while they did so. Such a thought had never entered his head, at least not until he had explained his plans and had caught young Bruce's expression of surprise.

“They did not really think that I would throw them out of their cottage just because I wanted it, did they?” Stephen asked as they neared the Hall.”

“Most lords would have done”, Jamie pointed out. “It really is the most perfect place, Ste.”

It was, Stephen thought. The cottage lay halfway between Charlton and the tiny hamlet of Knollsmere, the dirt-track between those places almost always empty as it ran parallel to the main Oxford to Banbury road half a mile to the west. Also a thick wood lay between it and that road, and even better, a small stream that fed into the Sewell passed by the cottage providing its own water supply. He was sure that despite his boasting, Jamie would not be able to fuck him so loud that they would hear his screams at the Hall.

Jamie looked at him, and Stephen gulped. Make that fairly sure.

MDCLIII

**March 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Vale says that London is up in arms again”, Stephen sighed. “One moment the army is marching round telling everyone that they cannot celebrate Christmas, then they are impressing a thousand more men into the Navy!”

“That is one of the dangers of war”, Jamie said. “I remember from Germany, you could always tell who had been forced into a uniform against their will. It was something in their eyes; they were looking out for the first chance of escape they could get.”

“And their commanders were looking to use them as cannon-fodder, I would wager”, Stephen said.

“War does not make for philanthropy or human kindness”, Jamie said. “It is a brutal and bloody affair, which breaks many a man.”

Stephen looked at him warily. His lover had seemingly recovered from the horrors of what had happened after Dunbar and in Durham's cathedral but some nights he still had nightmares, although they always died down once the nobleman held him and whispered how much he loved him. Such nights were, Stephen had noted, always followed by a more than usually vigorous 'wake-up call' the following morning which would leave the nobleman unsure as to which way was up, but the contented aura that came of his lover afterwards was worth it. Even if his arse muscles ventured to disagree loudly!

“I am fine”, Jamie smiled reassuringly. “And ready for the great ordeal next month.”

“What ordeal?” Stephen asked, confused.

“Eddie's wedding!” Jamie grinned. “A formal affair where I will have to be on my best behaviour – and you will be thinking all the time as on just who I will be working out those frustrations on later!”

Stephen shuddered.

MDCLIII

**April 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

It said something for the standing of most lords that Stephen was pleasantly surprised at Chatton's news. It was customary for the marriage of an important member of the family to be used to further tax the poor, but instead Edward and Thunor had agreed that they would gift the workers extra grain, either this summer if the harvest allowed it or in autumn if they had to buy some in again. 

The boy looked happy at his choice ('as if he had a choice', Jamie had scoffed, although Stephen had noticed that the soldier had made sure that Thunor was not around when he had said it!), and the bride looked radiant in white. It was a small affair held at the church in Hampton after which the happy couple first attended a reception and then moved in to the Hall. To the outside world of course Edward was still only the bastard offspring of the late earl but his marriage enabled Aidan to formally appoint him to run the estate, which he could then take over once he had some sons of his own to secure the line. Thankfully the only threat to him was safely buried in an unmarked grave up in County Durham.

Yes, Jamie did behave himself perfectly during the ceremony. And thanks to some forward planning they could continue to live in their half of the Hall until the cottage became available; Stephen had had the two archways either side of the top of the main staircase fitted with very solid doors. 

To keep the cold out, of course. The fact that they were all but soundproof was just a coincidence!

MDCLIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) The Three Days' Battle, also known as the Battle of Portland as initial engagements took place off there before continuing east as far as the Isle of Wight._


	7. In The Name Of God, Go!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April-July 1653.   
> The Rump meets a bad end as Cromwell finally loses patience with them, opting for a bare-boned replacement. There is another Royalist rising (ineffectual as ever), more encounters in the Anglo-Dutch War (also ineffectual as ever), while both Stephen and Jamie turn forty-five so mark the occasions in their usual refined and restrained manner.  
> If you believe that last one, I have a bridge across the Atlantic to sell you.

**April 1653**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

_'It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money._

_Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance._

_Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable¹, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do. I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place. Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble² there, and lock up the doors._

_In the name of God, go!'_

“You might almost think”, Jamie observed as he read the news-sheet from London, “that Cromwell was not overly fond of the Rump for some strange reason. I mean, it is not as if they deliberately tried to cling on to power for as long as possible just so they could make more money.”

“Well, they are history now”, Stephen said unsympathetically. “I wonder what we will get in their place?”

“I suppose your in-law could always try one ruler with supreme power and avoid all these shenanigans that way”, Jamie suggested with a sly smile. “You know, a..... what do they call them? Oh yes. A king.”

Stephen shook his head at the saucy fellow.

MDCLIII

**April 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie was surprised to enter the breakfast-room and find young Edward there. Fast asleep at the table. He carefully collected two plates on a tray but the young man must have heard him as he yawned and pulled himself up.

“Mr. Buchanan”, he said, yawning again. “I trust that my Lord Amerike is well?”

“Very well”, Jamie grinned. “It is my forty-fifth birthday today so we are having a quiet day in.”

“I tested your new doors”, Edward said, looking at him pointedly. “I do not think that it matters if you are quiet or not with them closed!”

Jamie blushed.

“And it is your friend's birthday next week, if I remember”, Edward said. “Thunor and I must give you both something; she has already had me draw up a list of all birthdays and important dates.”

“Your good lady is highly organized”, Jamie said. 

“And not that dissimilar from you in one aspect!” Edward sighed, trying and failing to smother another yawn. “Just make sure that she never finds those boxes under your bed, otherwise you will have some explaining to do when they bury me down at St. Giles!”

Jamie blushed even more and excused himself.

MDCLIII

**May 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Luke shook his head at his father's dreadful state.

“I was going to ask if you had had a happy birthday”, he said, “but I think that I can see the answer to that one!”

“Very happy”, Stephen sighed. “All the way from Jamie's own birthday last week!”

“I had better let you have my news before you traumatize me any further”, the young man said quickly. “First family; Anne is expecting again and we have written to her father to let him know.”

“He will appreciate that what with all his present troubles”, Stephen said.

“Our letter to him must have crossed one he sent us, for it arrived the day after we wrote”, Luke said. “He told us that the Council of State is debating some peace proposals from the Dutch but he does not hold out much hope. They all seem to think that we won this war by a far greater margin than we did, so are demanding so much more.”

Stephen nodded, winced at the sudden pain, then realized something.

“You wrote to him before coming to tell me?” he asked, surprised.

His son sighed heavily.

“It was your birthday yesterday”, he reminded Stephen. “We both knew full well that you would be 'busy'.”

Oh. Yes. He had been – the whole damn day!

MDCLIII

**June 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I am afraid that this is one of those victories that will bring more trouble than it may be worth.”

Stephen looked at his lover in surprise.

“Why?” he asked. “This battle off the North Foreland with eight ships destroyed and eleven captured surely must make the Dutch agree to peace?”

“But it will make the Council dig its heels in even more”, Jamie said, “especially as we no longer have a parliament to balance things out. Rather like my half-uncle's successes prompted the late king to refuse to even consider peace while he still thought that he might win the war that seems an age ago now. I agree that the Rump had to go otherwise they would have found pretext after pretext to somehow stay on forever, but we need some sort of representation in London if they want the money to run things like an army and a navy.”

But what sort, Stephen wondered.

MDCLIII

**June 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The Scots are revolting.”

Jamie quirked an eyebrow at his lover.

“Quite a few of my countrymen are”, he said, “but I assume you refer to those supporting the king. The Highlands?”

Stephen nodded.

“The Earl of Glencairn³ is trying to raise support for the king up there”, he said. 

“You have to be impressed that Cromwell knows something is afoot even before they have managed to meet up”, Jamie said. “It will all come to nothing except in making that desolate area even poorer, although the way in which the Army up there has handled my countrymen may provoke some of them to support it. Or as they did with the escape of the king, not oppose it.”

“Cromwell is more worried about the breakdown of peace talks with the Dutch”, Stephen said with a sigh. “As he feared, North Foreland has made many on the Council demand far more than Amsterdam was prepared to give, so there will be yet another pointless battle.”

“It seems war is the new normal”, Jamie sighed. “So much for the progress of Mankind!”

MDCLIII

**July 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Well, they are hardly short of names!” Jamie scoffed. “The Parliament of Saints, the Little Parliament and the Nominated Assembly. If they cannot agree on a name when how do they expect to agree on things as complicated as the laws of the land?”

“Its critics are also calling it Barebone's Parliament”, Stephen said, “after that insufferable Puritan Praisegod Barebone⁴. A hundred and forty members chosen by Cromwell, including five for Scotland and six for Ireland. The first British parliament, one might say.”

“And every one of them chosen by the nation's leader”, Jamie said with a smile. “The late king must be spinning in his grave with envy!”

“Cromwell has sworn to give them at least five months to get their act together”, Stephen said, “so hopefully that will push them to get a move on. His promises, unlike the late king's, always hold water.”

“He might have done better to have offered them payment by results”, Jamie said.

“Bad idea”, Stephen said. “The moment you start actually paying members of parliament they will just keep voting themselves more and more money, because they are so supremely important!”⁵

“I would say you have a low opinion of your former colleagues”, Jamie smiled, “but then you know them!”

MDCLIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) A reference to one of the Labours of Hercules. Challenged to clean out the stables of King Augeus whose immortal animals had created rather a lot of.... political promises, Hercules achieved it by diverting two rivers to run through the buildings and sweep everything out to sea._   
>  _2) Cromwell was referring to the mace, which along with the rest of the royal regalia was sold soon after. Thirteen have been created at various points since 1670, ten of which are on display in the Tower and the other three on permanent loan to the Houses of Parliament, where one of them is always present when any new law is being passed as it denotes the presence of the monarch in whose name laws are enacted. No full text of Cromwell's speech survives, but witness statements mean that this is certainly close to what the great man said – expressing a sentiment that many have had as regards Westminster especially in the 2016-2109 period._   
>  _3) William Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn (b. 1610). He had opposed the Scots siding with the king in the First Civil War and had been behind an abortive rescue attempt in 1648, for which he had been deprived of his post as Lord Chief Justice._   
>  _4) Praisegod Barebone (b 1598), a leather-seller and preacher. Clearly in revenge for his parents saddling him with such a name, he called his son Hadst-Jesus-Christ-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Would-Havest-Been-Damned Barebone. The boy grew up to become a leading fire insurance salesman – and changed his name to Nick at the first opportunity!_   
>  _5) History would prove Jamie totally correct in his cynicism._


	8. Stops And Stroppiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-October 1653.   
> There is an important family wedding for Stephen to attend up in Northumberland, some politicians are sore losers (no change there, then), and the pointless Dutch war limps on. Cromwell takes a leaf out of the late king's book and looks for the highest bidder, while practice makes people think of swords.

**August 1653**   
**Staward, Northumberland, ENGLAND**

“Glad you could make it, brother.”

“The wedding of my nephew and heir to the Amerike estate?” Stephen smiled. “I hope young Theo realizes just how lucky he is. Girls like Nell Grey¹ do not grow on trees.”

Aidan nodded. His second son Aelfric was marrying the daughter of one of the two most prestigious families in the county, although having only been there for some three hundred years they were still viewed by their Percy rivals as 'the newcomers' (in fact both stretched back to the Norman Conquests but the Percies had been assigned to the northern county almost immediately after that dreadful event). Luckily both the greater families concentrated on the main part of the county each picking one of the two county members, leaving Hexhamshire pretty much to its own devices.

“Alfie is very much in love”, he said, “and it is fortunate that her father wishes to try to ingratiate himself with Cromwell and knows of our connection to him.”

“Edward sends you greetings”, Stephen told him, “and he has proven very capable when it comes to handling the estate. But Thunor has told him that he is not to formally take the title until they have two sons.”

“Some men are so whipped by their partners”, Aidan observed, shooting a sly look across at Jamie.

Stephen scowled at him. That had been quite uncalled for!

“I am not one of those”, he said firmly.

“Really?” Aidan said with a smile. “Tell me, how many times did Jamie pull you over on the way up here 'for a rest break', brother?”

Stephen blushed. Damnation! And there was no need for some eavesdropping bastard of a lover to hold up seven fingers like that, either!

Oh right. It had been seven, including that time he had not even let Stephen off his damn horse!

MDCLIII

**August 1653**  
 **Staward, Northumberland, ENGLAND**

The wedding passed off successfully, apart from Stephen being unable to prevent Jamie from taking to the new Lady Amerike about her future married life. Poor Aelfric; his honeymoon was going to be rather more interesting than he had bargained for!

They stayed in the Hall for a week and were about to set out for home when they received some news.

“Scheveningen”, Stephen told Jamie. “Poor Tromp has lost his life in the service of an ungrateful nation, and all because our own government could not get its act together and secure a peace.”

“Another defeat for them, though”, Jamie said. “That should surely spur Amsterdam to make concessions?”

“Except that Cromwell now has to get a deal through his new parliament”, Stephen said. “The reports are that they are not doing at all well; they seem to be all talk and no action².”

“Typical politicians!” Jamie scoffed. “Even when they are selected for being godly, they can achieve nothing!”

Stephen would have liked to disagree with his lover on that, but he knew that he was right. The smugness was still annoying, though.

MDCLIII

**August 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The smugness was even more annoying when they had only been back in Oxfordshire for three days before a letter caught them up from Staward. 

“I thought that you were just giving Nell ideas with which to torment poor Alfie”, Stephen said, scowling at his lover. “I should have known from that damn smirk that there was more to it.”

“She said that it was because the original wedding-date was cancelled at the last minute”, Jamie grinned, “and that as neither she nor her future husband had had much experience they decided that they had better practice first. As they say, it only takes one time. And they could hardly know that two days later the Grey family cleric would be laid up for two months having injured himself bell-ringing!”

“As if anyone will remember that!” Stephen scoffed. “Everyone will say it was a sword-point wedding.”

“At least we know that Aelfric has it in him”, Jamie smiled brightly. “Although not in the same way that you will in five minutes' time!”

Stephen sighed heavily.

“Must you make everything about sex?” he asked.

“Four minutes and fifty seconds”, Jamie corrected, taking his watch out and looking pointedly at it. “Forty-five, forty-four forty-three....”

Stephen rose and hurried to the door. So Aidan had been right and he was whipped. Oh well.

MDCLIII

**August 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I think that the correct phrase is 'sore losers' my liege.”

Stephen nodded.

“Along with people who cannot take a hint until they are hit over the head with it”, he sighed. “The ever-turbulent Lilburne is found not guilty of the latest charges drawn up against him, people celebrate in the streets, even the soldiers brought in to stop them join in – then parliament immediately throws him in the Tower! Pathetic!”

“Dreadful how some people cannot accept the will of the people”, Jamie smirked. “That sort of thing could lead to a revolution.... oh wait!”

Stephen rolled his eyes at the pest.

“Both this useless parliament and the Council of State do seem to share with the late king a dislike for being criticized”, he admitted. “And rather than address the criticisms, it is easier to lock up those making a fuss and throw away the key.”

“It will win them few friends”, Jamie prophesied, “and given their frequent demands for money from the city, they will doubtless be clutching their hands to their hearts when the answer next time is 'only after you have released Lilburne – again'!”

“I so do not miss London”, Stephen said. “It seems a mad, mad place just now.”

MDCLIII

**September 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Cromwell is not really thinking of taking on the French before we have finished fighting the Dutch, surely?”

Stephen shook his head at his lover.

“No”, he said. “He wants an alliance with them.”

Jamie looked at his lover in confusion.

“Then why is he sending ships round to make reports on French coastal defences?” he asked. “Does he think that somehow Paris will not notice?”

Stephen smiled.

“He is rather hoping that they do”, he said.

Jamie opened his mouth to say something else before it struck him.

“The sneaky bastard!” he exclaimed. “He knows that those reports will reach the French court from all corners of their realm, and they will think that he is plotting a surprise attack!”

“That and the 'secret talks' he is having with the Spanish which have also been leaked to them”, Stephen grinned. “They will think that they are next for the militant English republic and will seek at least an accommodation, possibly even an alliance.”

Jamie shook his head at such deviousness. He did not really like Cromwell and (although he would never have said as much to his lover) feared the power that he wielded. Still, he had to admire him on a professional level.

“My in-law wants war with Spain”, Stephen said, “and he knows that such a thing is dangerous unless the French are either in alliance with us or at worst neutral. Remember that France and Spain are still at war, and the support of the English Navy in particular would greatly tip the scales in Paris's favour.”

“That is the trouble with having the army running things”, Jamie sighed. “They want employment, which means a near constant state of war. I would just like some peace.”

Stephen nodded.

“Though I would settle for a piece of that fine arse.....”

“Bucky!”

MDCLIII

**October 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Phase two of Cromwell's schemes”, Stephen grinned as he read the latest news-sheet. “Leak news of the French offers to the Spanish and wait to see what Madrid will offer as an alternative.”

“Surely even the Spanish must see we cannot be their friends?” Jamie wondered. “Not just our friendship with Portugal but we have so many colonial clashes these days.”

“They are overstretched what with the French, the Portuguese and the Catalans”, Stephen said. “As you yourself once said, what better time to strike someone than when they are down?”

“I remember that”, Jamie said. “I was 'deep into the matter' as I recall!”

Edward, who was reading by the fire, coughed pointedly.

“Mr. Buchanan!” 

“What?” Jamie said innocently. “I really was....”

“Stop it!” the young man said. “You really are terrible, you know.”

“Actually I was rather good according to Ste....”

“I shall set Thunor on you!”

Jamie shut up at once.

MDCLIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Eleanor, a fictional daughter of Henry Grey, Earl of Stamford (born 1599) who had been an ineffectual Royalist leader during the recent wars._   
>  _2) Their achievements in their short existence can be summed up in the word 'zero'._


	9. Making Way For The Instrument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> November-December 1653.   
> An overly-proud teenager is taken town a peg or two by two burly Saracens, and Stephen has another grandson to celebrate. He and Jamie deliver some Definitely Not Christmas presents to the estate workers and there is an Instrument over which a certain Winter Soldier had better not make any smart-arsed remarks, or else!

**November 1653**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Where is he, father?”

Stephen tried to suppress a smile at his son's evident annoyance.

“Who?” he asked in mock confusion.

“You know damn well who!” Luke snapped. “That villain of a Scotsman you keep around here for some reason!”

“Actually he keeps me just for the sex!”

Stephen could not help but snort with laughter as Jamie's head popped out from behind the screen. The bastard had quite deliberately ruffled his already untidy hair and had on his best innocent look, so his son would immediately think the worst. Which was not true.

All right, not this time.

“I thought that you were bringing us news of Anne?” the nobleman managed.

“A son, and we are calling him Blake after the Admiral”, Luke said, still glaring daggers at Jamie. “Did you know?”

“Know what?” Jamie asked in his best fake-innocent voice.

“About Thor”, Luke said.

“Has Brennus broken him _again?”_ Jamie asked plaintively. “I cannot be held accountable for the sexploits of the only man in all Oxfordshire anywhere close to as horny as I am.”

“I meant his namesake”, Luke snapped. “Mr. Lovely-Locks!”

Young Thor Bradstock, the permanently tired Baldur's second son, was nineteen and Stephen had been growing rather worried about him as of late. It was not so much that he wanted to become a soldier – that had been bad enough – but he was far too proud of his appearance and was forever telling everyone how good-looking he was. Not a recipe for a good soldier, Jamie had said..... oh!

“What did you do _this_ time?” Stephen demanded of his lover.

Jamie snickered.

“I introduced him to those two Saracens who run a fighting-school down in Oxford”, he said. “Jeb and Jed. You know.”

Stephen was surprised at that before he realized.

“Yes”, Luke said testily. “I went to see Bren and Thor last week, and Bren had been instructing Thor about..... things!”

Stephen was hard put not to snicker himself. Jebediah and Jedediah were two dark-skinned fellows who had been picked up from the North African coast in one of the infrequent – far too infrequent, in his opinion – counter-raids against the vile Barbary Pirates who stole away Britons from coastal settlements on a regular basis. The two young men were skilled fighters who had tired of the abuse and mistreatment that they had been subjected to by their fellow Africans and had taken the opportunity of the arrival of a small English fleet in their harbour to escape. They had since started a school for fighting men in the university city; in normal times such a thing might have gone down ill with some residents but luckily they had met Bren who had introduced Stephen to them, and it had swiftly been put round that 'a friend of Cromwell' was associated with the place. As has been said before, everyone knew what that meant; those making any fuss might find themselves getting unexpectedly 'Barbadosed'!

“Now we have two Thors looking wrecked every day!” Stephen sighed. “This family is terrible!”

“We are”, Jamie said. “In fact Luke, just before you arrived your father and I were.... about to play a game of chess!”

Luke just glared at him.

“What?” the soldier asked innocently. “Some of my moves are absolutely...”

“Father! Stop him!”

Stephen sighed. His lover was quite impossible – and best of all, he was all his!

MDCLIII

**December 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Barebone's Parliament almost managed to agree on something”, Stephen told his lover. “Someone wanted to offer Cromwell the crown, but he heard about it and made it clear that he would decline so the move was cancelled.”

“King Oliver the First”, Jamie mused. “At least until some other party comes to the throne and tries to wipe him out of the history books.”

“Like King Louis”, Stephen agreed.”

“The French king?” Jamie asked. The nobleman shook his head.

“No, from centuries back”, he said. “The one who was later Louis the Eighth in France. He was in control of large parts of England after King John's death – the barons had invited him over in order to get rid of such a useless monarch¹ – but the great William Marshall, the Cromwell of his day, managed to oust him and get Henry the Third as ruler over the whole country. They paid Louis off and wrote him out of the histories, although given what an idiot his replacement turned out to be that may have been a mistake.”

Jamie just looked at him.

“You are such a bookworm!” he said with a sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Like you need ideas!” Stephen retorted.

“Aye”, Jamie smiled. “You, upstairs, naked, our bed, five minutes.”

Stephen sighed, but obeyed. His lover was... already at the door tapping his foot, damn the villain!

MDCLIII

**December 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“All of them?”

The news had just reached them from London. Stephen nodded.

“Every last one of them”, he told his lover. “They all felt unworthy to carry out such a task and resigned their powers back to Cromwell. I would wager that he was not best pleased!”

“He can hardly throw all one hundred and forty of them into the Tower alongside Lilburne”, Jamie said. “Barebone's Parliament was truly bare of any backbone whatsoever.”

“I wonder what he will do now?” Stephen mused.

“Probably order another crackdown on Christmas”, Jamie said. “Which I am sure the good citizens of London will receive with all the attention that they have the last half dozen crackdowns!”

MDCLIII

**December 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I would like to hear about this Instrument of Government”, Thunor said as they sat at dinner one evening, “and Mr. Buchanan, if I even think that you are making any comments about instruments, kindly remind yourself that I have several items of cutlery to hand and as a 'temperamental' woman I may react very badly!”

Jamie mock-buttoned his lips, earning himself an eye-roll from his lover.

“It is John Lambert's attempt to create a whole new constitution out of nothing”, Stephen said, fighting to hold back a smile at the feisty lady. “He proposes three centres of power; a Council of State whose members are elected, a parliament likewise, and a Lord Protector overseeing it all.”

“Whose initials may or may not be 'O.C.”, Jamie said. Thunor gave him a dark look and her hand reached for a knife. The soldier immediately put on his most innocent expression.

“That butter would not melt look may work on my Lord Amerike, but it has no effect on me”, she said icily, turning back to Stephen. “Please go on, sir.”

“Parliament will be elected on a fairer basis, so seats like our own Forston will disappear and be replaced with ones for the larger towns”, Stephen said. “The Lord Protector is elective rather than hereditary, and he cannot veto a bill that has been passed twice by parliament – a straight majority, not with any minimum vote. Parliament is again to be guaranteed a minimum life of five months during which it cannot be dismissed. Naturally Catholics cannot vote, while Royalists may not for some years. And the right to vote is to be restricted to only those holding property at more than two hundred pounds².”

“It all sounds very fair”, she said, nibbling at a dry biscuit before pulling a face. “Edward darling, I really would like some warm milk.”

“I shall go down the kitchens and fetch you some, my dear”, her husband said, rising swiftly to his feet.

“Thank you”, she smiled. “Mr. Buchanan, you had better not even think about mouthing that word which rhymes with 'pipped' to my Lord Amerike _right this minute!”_

Jamie blushed fiercely.

MDCLIII

**December 1653**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Since Thunor was feeling unwell and Edward wished to stay with his wife, it fell to Stephen and Jamie to go round the estate workers and fulfil the promise made back at the couple's wedding. Or sort of fulfil; they had been unable to get much grain after a rather poor harvest so they had instead bought in extra fuel, which they took round instead. It just happened to be the day before that thing about a week before the end of the year and which no-one celebrated any more, but regardless of such an antiquated custom there just happened to have been a whole lot of food baked in the Hall kitchens of late which was no longer wanted so that had to be handed out as well. Waste not, want not.

“Cromwell was fretting in his latest letter that the peace talks with the Dutch are not going well again”, Stephen told his lover as they drove their now very empty cart back to the Hall. He really liked this part of his job, especially the number of times the recipients of the estate's largesse had very deliberately not mentioned the Not A Festive Season when they had received their belated wedding gifts. Everyone would have a very merry Not A Festive Season, either way.

“I suppose that they are wary of dealing with a government that is moving from one form to another”, Jamie said. “The skies look like snow again.”

“Thunor may be 'just a lady'”, Stephen said, “but if you try to build an anatomically-correct snowman then I will not save you from her wrath.”

“Meanie!”

The nobleman laughed as they took the cart round to the stables.

MDCLIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) The sort of dreadful thing that no self-respecting country would ever do more than once, and which England would do again barely three decades into the future._   
>  _2) The greater boom in property prices makes a modern comparison difficult, but at the time this would have been those owning a large town house or more._


	10. Risks And Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-March 1654.   
> A new law is not all that it 'may' seem, and Stephen both becomes a great-uncle and is set to become a godfather when Thunor becomes pregnant. In an unusually mild winter Cromwell tests his in-law, while young Edward really regrets having had a mirror installed in his new bathroom.

**January 1654**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I do not know why you are surprised, my love”, Jamie said as Stephen lay gasping in their bed. “You know how some people cannot take being told they are wrong.”

Stephen recovered his breath and stared blearily at his tormentor.

“I know”, he said, “but even so, making criticism treasonous? That means putting someone to death for telling you that you are wrong!”

“They could call it the Balmerino Law, perhaps”, Jamie smiled. “Besides, may.”

“May what?”

“It is a typical Cromwell law”, Jamie said. “Criticism of the Protectorate _may_ be considered treasonous. As in you _may_ make it to the end of the next hour without being molested again!”

He ran a calloused hand down his lover's still heaving chest and grinned darkly as the nobleman trembled in fear.

_“But I would not bet on it, my liege!”_

Stephen just groaned.

MDCLIV

**February 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Impressively given the snows that winter, the news still reached them barely a week after it had happened. Stephen was a great-uncle, his new niece having given birth to a daughter to be named for her mother. And Theodric's wife Alice was pregnant too, due in September, so there would be another happy event then.

“I did remind Edward about being grateful for whatever he gets with Thunor”, Jamie told Stephen once he had heard the news. “So you are a grandfather _and_ a great-uncle now. Another decade or so, and either Lissa or Stevie will be making you a great-grandfather!”

Stephen groaned at the prospect. The years seemed to be passing far too quickly for his liking lately.

“Not Lissa”, he said firmly. “She will likely be running the country by then, she has so much of you in her.”

“The joys of godfather-hood”, Jamie grinned. “Like being a grandfather; you can go round to see the bairns, rile them up no end, then run back to your own house and leave their parents to sort out the ensuing mess!”

“Which is why Luke insists on keeping an eye on you when you visit now”, Stephen reminded him, “after he found Lissa drilling her younger siblings into order that time.”

“Well, if Cromwell can hang on a bit then she can take over from him”, Jamie smiled brightly. “See? I think of everything!”

Stephen just rolled his eyes at him.

MDCLIV

**February 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Why does Cromwell trust you with news like this?” Jamie wondered. I know that he uses Diana's courier service which is reliable enough, but there is always the danger that his writings could be intercepted somehow.”

You mean the plotters meeting at the Ship Tavern in the Old Bailey”, Stephen said. “The king, against the advice of even the hawks at his court, has offered five hundred and fifty pounds a year¹ and will even throw in a free knighthood if someone will 'take down' Cromwell. It is all rather funny, in a way.”

“What is?” Jamie asked, surprised. “Assassination?”

“The king created a group of Royalist supporters called the Sealed Knot”, Stephen explained. “They were to have the exclusive right to plot on the king's behalf to restore him to the throne, with all the rewards that that would doubtless bring them.”

“Most likely the brief sensation of an executioner's axe on the back of their lordly necks!” Jamie snorted. “You said that they _were_ to have had the right. What happened?”

Stephen chuckled.

“The king was not best pleased that, far from rushing round and plotting, most of them just asked around if anyone felt like rebelling, and when answered in the negative they just gave up”, he said. “Hence the offer of a reward for someone taking more direct action. Very foolish on just about every level.”

“Because in the world of foreign diplomacy that sort of thing will leak out”, Jamie reasoned, “and everyone will know that the king of England will stoop to any lengths in his dealings. Not a good thing, especially if he does ever regain his throne. I still do not see why Cromwell is trusting you of all people with this sort of information, though.”

“Thank you very much!”

“You know what I mean”, Jamie said testily. “Well?”

“He is testing us”, Stephen said. 

Jamie thought about that for a moment.

“I get it”, he said. “He tells you and no-one else, then waits to see if the information will leak back to the king. If it does, he will know that you cannot be trusted.”

“There would be little point in my sending to the king anyway”, Stephen sighed. “This sort of stupidity is easy to start, almost impossible to stop, and definitely impossible to keep a secret which is why Cromwell knows. He will let the king arrange a strike then expose him for an untrustworthy rogue, which will make the Continental powers wary of dealing with him.”

“And that is doubly important now”, Jamie said, “since sooner or later we will side with Spain against France or France against Spain, and earn the enmity of one or other of those great powers. But the spurned country will think twice before helping a murdering king. Cromwell is very clever.”

“Indeed”, Stephen said. “He also advises us that the landlord of the house where Jeb and Jed 'work' is becoming suspicious of his tenants and that it might be advisable for them to move. I had better send to young Thor so he can take them a message; we have a place in King's Linton that they could have.”

“Young Thor is good at taking things!” Jamie grinned. “I think that the modern vernacular is 'two for the price of one'?”

Stephen swatted at him.

MDCLIV

**February 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“This weather is strange”, Stephen sighed as he looked out of the window. “Hardly any snow; it seems we had a couple of weeks of winter and that was it.”

“It could be bad for the summer”, Jamie said, “for all that it saves on coal for now. We need winter to kill off the insects, or they will be legion this coming year.”

“Peter writes that things are particularly bad in Scotland”, Stephen said, “and that the south-east of the country is very short of water. We may need to send them food again this year.”

“At least now we are at peace that is a possibility”, Jamie said. “Is there something else in your letter?”

“Cromwell is having trouble with the Council again”, Stephen sighed. “This latest plot of the king's has soured relations with the French – they are housing the king after all – and has swung more of them over to favouring a Spanish alliance.”

“But you think that he will not go for that?” Jamie asked.

Stephen nodded.

“It is strange”, he said, “but as I said, one of the ways in which my in-law is traditional is that he yearns for a port on the Continent again, another Calais. He has his eye either on Spanish Dunkirk or French Brest, which would make our Channel patrols much more effective.”

“The French might be persuaded into a joint attack on Dunkirk”, Jamie said, “if only because they will reckon that when they are stronger they can take it back. No alliance lasts forever.”

“Very true”, Stephen agreed.

“Except ours”, Jamie grinned, pulling his lover into a kiss.

Stephen sighed happily. Things were not so bad for once.

MDCLIV

**March 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“If either of you say anything, I am throwing you out of this place!”

Both Stephen and Jamie kept commendably straight faces as Edward limped over to his chair at the breakfast-table. There was hardly even a smirk from the soldier.

Well, not that much of one.

“I take it that the moaning we heard this morning was Thunor becoming acquainted with the new flush-toilet?” Jamie said innocently.

Edward glared at him.

“Whoever put a mirror in the place deserves to be shot!” he said firmly. “I thought that she could not see me but she must have caught my reflection. And I have another six months of this hell to get through!”

“Six months of hell is the price for six minutes of pleasure”, Stephen said. 

“Only six minutes?” Jamie asked in mock offence. “I seem to recall that I left you moaning for rather longer than that. But then that was because of something rather longer.”

“I hate you both!” Edward grumbled. “Just so as you.... ow!”

He yelped in pain as he sat down, and glared at the two men across the table from him. Family!

MDCLIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) About £100,000 ($120,000) at 2020 prices, worth a lot more to the poor men who might risk what little they had apart from their lives._


	11. Knots And Knockabouts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> March-May 1654.   
> A war ends, a man is dispatched to a remote island, England is suddenly very popular, and there is a change in policy towards one Celtic nation but not another. An ensign makes some bad company while there is another new family member for Stephen and Jamie – oh, and someone disowns their own uprising!

**March 1654**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Stephen stared incredulously at his letter from Scotland.

“Not more bad weather up there?” Jamie asked.

“No”, Stephen said. “It looks like Glencairn's uprising is finished – mainly because he has given up on it!”

The soldier looked at him in surprise.

“Why?” he asked.

“The king sent George Middleton to Scotland with a commission to assume control of the rising”, Stephen said. “He has contrived to make a complete dog's breakfast of the affair! One of his aides, a fellow called George Munro, picked a quarrel with Glencairn and called him out – so they fought a duel!”

Jamie stared at his lover in astonishment.

“The king's own men fighting each other?” he asked incredulously. “What the blazes were they thinking?”

“Exactly”, Stephen said. “They were both injured, and Middleton took Glencairn's sword from him as a result. That of course led to further scrapes between the men of both sides, so Glencairn has withdraw from his own uprising.”

Jamie shook his head at the news.

“As we say on the battlefield; with friends like those, who needs enemies?”

MDCLIV

**March 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Jersey?”

Stephen nodded.

“A good place from Cromwell's point of view”, he said. “Better to keep Lilburne there rather than in the Tower where he is a constant reminder to Londoners of their squashed liberties, and still somehow able to get his precious pamphlets out to them.”

“John Lilburne will still be putting out pamphlets from Heaven!” Jamie scoffed. “Being on an island off the coast of France will not stop him!”

“It is perhaps healthier than the Tower”, Stephen said.

Jamie knew what he meant by that. For most men (and women) their accommodation in London's castle depended on how much they could pay for luxuries like food and drink, but it was common knowledge that Freeborn John was being treated by the Tower's guardians as an honoured guest. And that the Army was too wary of an already irritated city to openly put a stop to that – except, apparently, by moving him somewhere else.

“In other news, the Spanish are apparently prepared to up their bid for English support”, Stephen said. “That will annoy Cromwell, although given the parlous state of the Spanish economy I am sure that the French can easily outbid them.”

“More war”, Jamie sighed. “And all the time we have the king plotting to get his throne back. What with that and Lilburne being moved, it really makes me mad!”

Stephen was about to ask why when he caught the expression on his lover's face. It looked like being another long and hard afternoon for a certain Oxfordshire nobleman.

Score!

MDCLIV

**April 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I hate jam!”

Stephen looked up in surprise at his charge.

“Why, Edward?” he asked.

The young man sighed.

“Thunor is going through another of her cravings”, he sighed. “Last week it was cheese, cheese and nothing but cheese. This week it is jam.”

“Perhaps you should be grateful”, Jamie said with a sly smile. “With some ladies they do not crave food.”

“Why should I be grateful for that?” Edward demanded. “It would be a blessed relief!”

“They crave something else instead”, Jamie smiled.

Stephen saw at once what he meant, and watched as the young man worked it out.

“Maybe jam is not so bad after all!” he said quickly.

MDCLIV

Unfortunately for a certain young Oxfordshire gentleman's ability to remain upright at the breakfast-table, his wife did have that certain other sort of craving later that same day. And for the rest of the month!

MDCLIV

**April 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“At least we have one war over and done with”, Stephen said to Jamie. 

“And for what?” Jamie asked dryly. “The Dutch promise to respect our ships in future and not attack merchant shipping, both promises which we know they will only hold to when we have ships around to enforce them. Many lives lost for virtually no gain.”

“There may be one gain”, Stephen said. “Cromwell has told me that he has managed to insert an Act of Seclusion into the treaty that de Witt¹ signed.”

“An Act of what?” 

“A law banning the infant William of Orange from any direct involvement in the government of the Netherlands”, Stephen said. “He is after all the king's nephew and may well be a supporter of his one day. It pays to plan ahead.”

“Very true”, Jamie agreed. “I am planning for a long hard afternoon of hot and sweaty sex!”

Stephen just sighed. Honestly, the things he had to put up with from his.... why was he sitting there when there was hot and sweaty sex to be had?

MDCLIV

**May 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“You know that the modern media has become too big when they start making stupid mistakes like this”, Stephen said as he read the latest news-sheet. “I very much doubt that the policy that has failed in Ireland is 'the transubstantiation of native peoples'!”

“I suppose they meant 'transplantation'”, Jamie said. “A fool's idea if ever there was one, trying to move all the native Irish into one area to make room for the lands they promised those who funded the war over there.”

“We were wise not to buy into that”, Stephen said. “It is much better to have a small estate like this one where the lands are all within reach; only the great lords are powerful enough to have lands the length and breadth of the Three Kingdoms.”

“It is odd that they seem to have learned how to handle the natives better in Scotland now that Glencairn's uprising is all but done with”, Jamie mused. “This Act of Pardon and Grace winning the nobles to the side of the Army will be much more effective at settling the country down to peace than their Irish tactics.”

“Yes, but Scotland is a Protestant nation while Ireland is still largely Catholic”, Stephen pointed out.

“As I know from my time in Germany, that can change”, Jamie said sagely. “The ethnic cleansing of an area can wipe its peoples and history from the books and the maps, and sadly some rulers are prepared to go that far. The problem is that such an approach often does work; it is only a half-hearted attempt at it like we are seeing in Ireland that leads to trouble sooner rather than later. Well, we shall see one day.”

Stephen looked at his lover thoughtfully.

“Work on converting the stables is almost done”, he said. “Once Thunor has established the Bradstock lineage with a couple of sons, would you like to go to your homeland for a visit in a few years' time?”

“That would be most pleasant”, Jamie said.

The nobleman smiled.

“And I could get to fuck you in as many Scottish counties as possible!”

Stephen just sighed. Although that too would be 'most pleasant'!

MDCLIV

**May 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Impressively the news reached them on the evening of the day that it had happened.

“How to lose friends and influence on people”, Stephen sighed. “Three men were caught plotting to ambush and murder Cromwell on his way to Hampton Court today. If that does not make foreign rulers back away from a murderous king in waiting, nothing will!”

“What happened?” Jamie asked.

“The plotters were waiting with a large force of armed men in an alleyway near Whitehall”, Stephen said, “not far from our house there. They knew as we all do that Cromwell goes down to Hampton ever Saturday so thought to overpower his guard and murder him there. Except that today he decided to travel by boat for a change.”

“How very convenient!” Jamie said sarcastically.

“And the plotters all bagged as well because 'someone' tipped off the authorities”, Stephen said. “The conspiracy theorists will have a field-day with this!”

MDCLIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Johann de Witt (b. 1625), Grand Pensionary (effectively Regent) of Holland. A wily and skilled negotiator, he and his brother Cornelius were later blamed for the start of the disastrous wars against both England and France in 1672 and were lynched. Their attackers were never hunted down and there was a strong suspicion, probably justified, that the then grown William the Third was behind the attacks._


	12. A Cuckoo In The Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June-September 1654.   
> Jamie thinks of himself as Hot-Stuff, especially after he quite literally steams his way to 'success'. An official 'loses' some paperwork but then miraculously 'finds' it when the alternative to not finding is getting 'Barbadosed'. Thunor gives birth to a healthy baby boy and Stephen also has news of a happy event from his family in Northumberland, but then he learns that there is a cuckoo in his and Edward's Oxfordshire nest.

**June 1654**   
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Stephen Roger Amerike would like it pointed out that he was not sleeping in the middle of the day. He was just resting his eyes after his lover had apparently felt the urge and had decided that it was easier to lock the door and close the curtains rather than bother going back to their bedroom. Certain of the nobleman's body parts might be out of commission for most of the rest of the day, but he felt _glorious!_

He heard his lover cross to the door and then return.

“Edward has slipped a letter under the door to say he is taking Thunor out for a drive”, he heard the soldier say. “Also he advises us to open a window; apparently they are steaming up!”

Stephen scowled. Or rather he tried to scowl. It took a lot more effort than he remembered. Then he felt his lover moving him round on the couch and.... oh come on, not again?

MDCLIV

Again!

MDCLIV

**July 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Dalnaspidal”, Stephen repeated.

“Bless you!” Jamie grinned.

Stephen swatted at the teasing bastard. As ever he missed; it was unfair that his lover was so agile although there were perhaps one or two small compensations (all right, specifically one rather large one)!

“Some place up in the wilds of Perthshire”, he said, scowling at the smirking soldier. “Monck has finally managed to pin down Middleton and destroy the last of his so-called army. Little more than bandits living off the land by now, but it will bring peace to the north especially with the more lenient approach being taken in your homeland.”

“Cromwell is going to have Scottish members in his forthcoming parliament again”, Jamie said. “Do you think that it has a chance of succeeding?”

“Not really”, Stephen sighed. “Although he did write to me about young Edward. Nothing bad, thankfully; it was about his officially changing his name from Stark to Bradstock.”

“I cannot believe that they 'lost the paperwork', then were so slow not to be able to manage it before his wedding”, Jamie sighed. “They had six months' notice, damnation!”

“It is done now”, Stephen smiled, “because the officials in question were asked if they fancied being Barbadosed.”

“What?” Jamie asked.

“The new verb”, Stephen said. “Sent to an island in the Caribbean where they can improve their tans while working themselves to death. The paperwork had indeed been lost but after Cromwell got involved they managed to 'find' it in record time, and it will be here in days. Edward's first-born can be christened a Bradstock.”

“Ah, the patter of tiny feet”, Jamie smiled. “The screaming all through the night – no, we have that already with you!”

Once again he was safely out of swatting range when he said that. Stephen really had to keep something handy to throw at him, although the bastard would likely dodge that as well. Life was unfair at times!

MDCLIV

**August 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I am afraid that Cromwell's traditionalist attitudes have led him into error again”, Stephen told Jamie. “He is looking to seize some of Spain's Caribbean possessions prior to declaring war, reckoning that they will likely be too busy with France and their own domestic problems to be able to do anything about it.”

“He may well be right”, Jamie conceded, “much as it pains me to say that.”

“But he is after Hispaniola¹, which he can never hope to hold down with the number of troops that he is sending”, Stephen said. “I know that he thinks to get more men from the colonies over there but they just want to trade with the Spanish, and will likely not help.”

“He should go for somewhere smaller, then”, Jamie said.

“I favour Santiago², further west”, Stephen said. “Barely a fifth the size of Hispaniola and much more defensible; it has precious few landing places and would be ideal as a base to prey on merchant shipping.”

“Is that wise?” Jamie wondered. “Suppose that Cromwell does oust the Spanish from most of their bases down there. Then much of the merchant shipping would be ours, and we would end up suffering from our own pirates.”

“Cromwell is over fifty”, Stephen pointed out. “As we have seen he is almost fatalistic about the future. Rather like when he let the king escape, he seems to think that God has a plan and things should just be allowed to play out. Except that unlike the late king he is prepared to nudge the Good Lord if He gets things not quite right.”

“What with that and his storming into parliament, he is more like the king whose head he removed than he realizes”, Jamie smiled. “And before you say it, yes – I would not dare say that to him either!”

“He probably knows that you just said it to me now, though”, Stephen smiled.

The soldier failed to stop himself from casting an anxious look around the room, then glared at his lover.

MDCLIV

**September 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Edward sighed happily as he lowered his hand into the bowl of cold water. Both men were impressed; the bruises on it could likely be seen from Oxford!

“What was I thinking?” he moaned. “The midwife taking care of everything and when she says 'now!', I come out with 'push, darling!'. I think that she may have broken my wrist, let alone expanded my vocabulary!”

“A lady is not exactly at her best when she is bringing a new life into the world”, Jamie grinned. “What are you going to call him?”

“Edward, after me and my late father”, the young man said. “I hoped that you would each let me use your names as one of his middle names, as well as being godfathers to the bairn.”

“Edward Stephen Hot-Stuff Bradstock”, Jamie mused, earning himself a sharp look from the other men. “Aye, that would certainly be distinctive!”

“We would be honoured”, Stephen said, shaking his head at the resident nuisance in the room.

MDCLIV

In fact it was to be a day of double celebration, as news arrived later that Stephen had become a great-uncle again with Alice giving birth to a healthy baby daughter, who was to be called Alianna. Which in turn meant a double celebration for Stephen and..... meh, who needed to sit down of a morning?

MDCLIV

**September 1654**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The one downside of having a baby in the house was that there would now be a set of servants who slept in the normally disused servants' quarters (which had been cleaned out for them), so Stephen and Jamie would have to be rather more circumspect in their activities. Just how so was brought home to them by a visitor the day after the birth.

“Vale?”

Stephen looked in surprise at his cousin.

“I am sorry that I could not be here yesterday”, the lawyer said. “I was delayed in London.”

“Diana wanted to give you a _long_ goodbye?” Jamie suggested mischievously.

That earned him a sharp glare from their visitor.

 _“Apart_ from that”, the lawyer said frostily, “one of my clients was beaten up by two of the men guarding him and I had to attend. It was annoying as I had news for you both and had hoped to reach you before the birth.”

“What news?” Jamie asked. “Has something happened in the capital?”

The lawyer shook his head.

“No”, he said, “but there is the risk of something happening here. It concerns Mistress Miller.”

“The ugly one of Thunor's crew?” Jamie asked, missing his lover's reproving look.

“Hopefully not for much longer”, Vale said. “She is being employed by one of the factions around the king in exile – a faction which bitterly resents your popularity with him, cousin, and is looking to expose you in some way.”

“Do you know who?” Stephen asked.

“Not yet”, his cousin sighed. “Considering that he has no country to rule the king seems to have managed to acquire an amazingly fractured court; Cromwell has been told that there are at least nine separate factions, which break up and reform at an amazing speed. I suppose that we could wait until Mistress Miller contacts one of them, but he did not wish to risk.... certain things coming out.”

Jamie grinned.

“If my liege will wear those tight trousers....”

They both rolled their eyes at him.

MDCLIV

Fortunately the cuckoo in the nest managed to betray her paymaster almost at once as, when her room was searched, a letter was found to them stating that she was in position and looking for 'dirt'. She duly found it – the dirt in the corner of her cell in the Tower of London! And her paymasters in London were rounded up by Cromwell before being put on the next ship out to the Caribbean!

MDCLIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) The second-largest island in the Caribbean, today split between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In area over twice the size of Wales or about thirty per cent larger than the state of Massachusetts._   
>  _2) Jamaica, from a local word meaning 'land of water and rock'. Oddly the famous district of New York comes from a totally different derivation, the Lenape word for a beaver._


	13. But What Is A Room?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> September-December 1654.   
> Certain recent events make Stephen decide that he and Jamie need to move into their cottage as a matter of urgency, and soon after Jamie moves into Stephen as they 'christen' every room in the place! The soldier also plans a surprise party lasting a week which a certain nobleman may well not survive, and the new parliament proves as useful as everyone had feared (see under chocolate teapots).

**September 1654**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The fact that they might be being spied upon, plus having a baby in the Hall, had made Stephen and Jamie both decide that their move to the cottage needed to be brought forward. Fortunately the stables rooms were now complete so Captain Quicksilver and Bruce could move in there with only minor finishing off to be done, which meant that the cottage across the valley was free.

Which in turn meant that Jamie had to 'christen' every room in the place by fucking his lover silly. Stephen did think (with what little was left of his brain) that the cupboard under the stairs and the pantry were not technically rooms, nor for that matter were the area behind the screen in their bedroom, the water-pump in the back garden, and the damn wardrobe (!), but who was he to argue? 

Especially as that would have involved speech!

MDCLIV

**September 1654**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Eighty-four?”

Jamie stared at his lover in astonishment. Stephen nodded.

“Cromwell is setting the bar high for his first Protectorate Parliament”, he said. “He thinks that since there are no Royalists or anyone who disagrees with him for that matter, that they will get a lot done. Hence a schedule of some eighty-four bills for them to consider.”

“They might earn their keep for once, then”, Jamie said. “A pity that Forston no longer has a seat, but then rotten boroughs like ours do not really deserve to have a member representing eight voters when towns with thousands of people have none.”

“A brave new world”, Stephen said. “Let us see how it fares when it collides with reality.”

MDCLIV

**October 1654**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Sausage, egg and bacon.”

Jamie looked at his lover in confusion.

“What?” he asked.

“You asked if Cromwell knew everything about the king's latest planned uprisings”, Stephen said. “I said yes, up to an including what the plotters had for breakfast that morning.”

“Oh.”

Stephen stared curiously at the soldier.

“You seem down for some reason”, he said. “Is something wrong?”

“Bren is worried about Thor”, Jamie said.

“Why?” Stephen asked.

He was sure that he had kept his voice level but he had forgotten about how sharp his lover was. Jamie was on to him at once.

“What do you know?” he demanded. 

“He does not have to worry”, Stephen said. “Thor knows that Bren was depressed recently when he broke his lover's ankle during one of their 'games', so he has been plotting a surprise. When they mark Bren's birthday next month Thor will have a surprise party for him, with all his favourite food.”

“Bren does not really like other people around, apart from us”, Jamie pointed out. 

Stephen chuckled.

“It will be just the two of them”, he said, “except that Thor has taken a week off and will be borrowing all of Special Boxes. He will let Bren do whatever he likes to him for seven whole days!”

“That is terrible!” Jamie said in what was clearly mock annoyance. “You know how I do not like having to attend funerals!”

Stephen just laughed.

MDCLIV

**November 1654**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“William Penn¹”, Stephen mused. “One of our naval commanders. Do you know him, Jamie?”

“Another one of those slippery characters who make you want to count your fingers and thumbs after shaking hands with them”, Jamie said in disgust. “There were rumours that he was trying to persuade the fleet to defect to the king earlier this year; he likely was and I was surprised that he kept his post. But perhaps his being sent to the Caribbean is his punishment; Cromwell is likely hoping that he catches something nasty down there.”

“You do not like him”, Stephen said.

“He is not a man to like”, Jamie said firmly. “He is very much 'my way or the highway', and shows the late king's flexibility when it comes to accepting someone else's point of view – in short, none. The fleet will be lucky to avoid either a mutiny or him falling out with someone while he is out there. Hopefully the latter and they might make him walk the plank!”

“You are terrible!” Stephen said.

“That was not what you said last night!” Jamie grinned. _“And this morning!”_

The nobleman just sighed.

“At least Penn has managed to get pay for his sailors out of this new parliament”, Stephen said. “Even if he had to all but threaten them with a mutiny if they did not receive their dues.”

“Politicians looking after their own wallets?” Jamie gasped in mock horror. “Next thing, you will be telling me that the sky is still blue!”

Stephen shook his head at him.

MDCLIV

**December 1654**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“This new parliament seems determined to shoot itself squarely in the foot”, Stephen sighed as he read the latest news-sheet. They had picked it up visiting Edward and Thunor over at the Hall along with their new godson, who had most annoyingly (as far as Stephen had been concerned) screamed when one godfather had picked him up and them gone all quiet when passed to the other. Not that he was jealous, of course.

That smirk. _As annoying as ever!_

“What have they done now?” Jamie asked.

“Done and not done”, Stephen said. “They have not managed to get a single one of the bills before them enacted, yet have still found time to demand that the Army be reduced in size as it is costing too much.”

“Politicians worrying first and foremost about their own wallets _again?”_ Jamie gasped. “Heaven forfend! Say that it is not so!”

“They are pushing their luck”, Stephen said, shaking his head at the pest. “I know that Cromwell promised them five months minimum life so they still have two to go, but then what? We cannot surely lose another parliament?”

MDCLIV

As it turned out, they could – and sooner than anyone could have expected.

MDCLIV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) William Penn (b. 1621). A slippery character indeed, he loaned King Charles the Second some £16,000 (about £2.5 million or $3 million at 2020 prices), and rather than pay it back Charles granted his son of the same name a large swathe of land in North America. Charles himself chose the name Pennsylvania; oddly enough the son hated it and had wanted to call it New Wales. The state subsequently lost the three coastal counties of Kent, New Castle and Sussex which broke away to form Delaware (named for Thomas West, Baron de la Warr and an early governor of Virginia)._


	14. Action And Reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-March 1655.   
> The dynamic duo's hopes for a Scottish excursion take a heavy hit, as does part of their new house when a tree falls on it. Jamie takes advantage of the snow to do something that makes his lover's eyes water (again), while there is a Royalist uprising in the south that is crushed almost immediately. And the king's much vaunted Action Party is, it turns out, pretty inactive.

**January 1655**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

One of the advantages – well, possible advantages – of their new house was that it was so isolated, especially in winter. The narrow track that ran past it between Charlton and Knollsmere saw hardly any traffic except the very occasional local taking a riverside walk or, more usually, those folk of Knollsmere who used the church at Charlton, and even that stopped when the snows came as it was unusable and the churchgoers either had to go round on the main road or cross to use the one at Hampton. Which meant, of course, that a certain someone could build his anatomically-correct snowmen once more.

A whole line of the things! Stephen rolled his eyes at the pest told him that if he tried to slip over to the Hall one night and build one there, he would loose Thunor on him!

“Cromwell has arrested more members of the king's so-called Action Party”, Jamie said one morning.

Stephen glared at him.

“He really is on top of every move the fellow makes”, Jamie said, very clearly losing a fight against a smile. “The king would do better not to try anything, really.”

Stephen continued to glare at him.

“Look, I just wanted to see if frozen ice from one of the snowmen could be used for.... that”, Jamie said, his eyes twinkling with the effort not to laugh. “How was I to know that it would break off like that?”

Stephen folded his arms and huffed.

“It was only one of the _smaller_ dicks...”

“You are terrible!” Stephen snapped.

“Thank you!”

Stephen scowled even more. Having something that cold inserted..... ye Gods, he had nearly hit the damn ceiling!

MDCLV

**January 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie stared incredulously at his lover.

 _“Lunar_ months?” he asked. “Why?”

“Cromwell was fed up with this parliament achieving nothing except a world record for whining”, Stephen said. “Remember those eighty-four bills he drew up for them to consider? In a little over four months they had not passed a single one of them. So he has dissolved them.”

“But did he not promise them five months.....” Jamie began before he got it. “Oh.”

Stephen nodded.

“The precise wording of the Instrument of Government said five months”, he said. “But it did not specify the _type_ of month. Since lunar months are on average a few days shorter than solar months, he was able to claim that they had their time and were out.”

“The fellow is good”, Jamie admitted, “if not someone I would care to play cards against. I wonder what he will come up with next?”

MDCLV

**February 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“If we do make Scotland this year we had better be prepared for it”, Stephen said as he and Jamie watched the snow floating gently down outside their window. “Penny's letter says that the winter there is one of the worst ever, and people are starving.”

“We can hardly distribute bags of grain as we go”, Jamie pointed out. “We could need a convoy of wagons for that, and I want us to travel alone so I can get to fuck you as often as I like!”

Stephen shook his head at him, appealing as the idea was (very!).

“I was thinking that we might sell some of our excess grain and share the money around”, he said. “We would need to exchange it for Scottish coin at somewhere like Berwick or Edinburgh but that is not a problem.”

“Not once they know you are a friend of Cromwell and they might well end up getting 'Barbadosed' if they try to short-change you!” Jamie said with a smile. “Is there any other news?”

“Just this clear-out of the top ranks of the army up there”, Stephen said. “Glencairn's rising seems to have flushed out quite a few in the ranks whose services are, as the news-sheets put it, 'no longer required'.”

“Unless they too wish to be 'Barbadosed'!” Jamie grinned.

MDCLV

**March 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Any thoughts that Stephen and Jamie may have had of making Scotland this year had been sunk by a burst of more and even heavier snow. Although both men enjoyed winter (the nobleman perhaps a tad less so after a certain frigid encounter of late!), this season had had a rather unfortunate consequence at the start of the month. One of the snow-laden trees which backed onto their land had gotten a little too snow-laden and had crashed down, taking out a large part of the south-west corner of the cottage in the process.

Some horny bastard remarking 'I finally made the earth move for you!' was still annoying, though!

Obviously the two men could not leave their new house in this state, and they decided to take the opportunity to rebuild much of the place including extending it on the damaged side. Stephen enjoyed this sort of hands-on work repairing and making things, although concentrating was occasionally difficult as he some hunky bare-chested – it was still winter, damnation! - Scottish soldier kept 'distracting' him!

“I went over to check on Edward this morning”, Stephen said as he came up to where Jamie was working away on the extension. “There has been a Royalist uprising down in Wiltshire.”

Jamie did not seem that surprised at the news.

“We both know how Cromwell works by now”, he sighed. “Arrest nearly all of the conspirators at the last minute and let one poor fool risk his neck by charging forward only to find he is alone. It acts as a deterrent for the next set of rebels.”

“A fellow called John Penruddock has entered Salisbury and freed all the prisoners”, Stephen said. “Most of them have joined his army so he now has getting on for a thousand men.”

“And those prisoner recruits will be the first to desert once they realize they have professional soldiers on their trail!” Jamie said.

“So cynical!” Stephen sighed.

Jamie just looked at him.

“All right, they likely will”, Stephen agreed. “No need to go on about it!”

The bastard just smirked, damn the villain!

MDCLV

**March 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Gosh, who would have thought it?” Jamie exclaimed in mock surprise. “By the time Cromwell's men caught up with Penruddock way down Devon way, all those prisoner recruits seem to have miraculously remembered urgent appointments elsewhere. Colour me astonished!”

Stephen glared at the snarky bastard. The minuscule rebellion had ended with a few hours of street-fighting in a town called South Molton, which was good even if it did not make up for some handsome bastard being insufferably smug. Again!

“Doubtless poor Penruddock will soon be beheaded”, the nobleman said coolly, “and many of his supporters will discover the horrors of being 'Barbadosed'. Against which they might consider an execution relatively merciful.”

“Such is inevitable in a society where the only deterrent to such behaviour is a strong punishment”, Jamie said. “At least we are well out of it, and have good weather for now.”

Stephen nodded. Their work on the extension was progressing well, and although living in the place was uncomfortable they had declined Edward's offer for them to move into the Hall for the duration as they wished to stay and deter any burglars. Although as some smirking bastard of a soldier quipped, only the very dimmest of thieves would not know of Stephen's connections to Cromwell and the resultant likelihood of their act of thievery leading to a long, one-way sea-journey.

MDCLV


	15. Flattening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April-August 1655.  
> The Pope pokes fun at Cromwell but makes a cartographical miscalculation, while the great general's Western Design goes a bit too far west. Repairs on the cottage pass a critical stage just in time, a major storm sweeps the Channel destroying many ships, and Thunor says no.

**April 1655**  
**Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“No!”

All three men jumped as Thunor banged her fist down on the table. 

“I have not agreed to anything, dear”, her husband said mildly. “It is merely a suggestion that was put to me by a group of merchants in London. I can hardly stop people writing to me, can I?”

“I can, if they know what is good for them!” Thunor said sharply. “These scum deal with that barbaric slave trade – yes, I know that they claim it is another company but dear Diana wrote to me and told me that it is exactly the same body of men men behind each company. I will not have this estate involved in such activities and, gentlemen, if I see so much as a look from either of you, that man will regret it!”

Stephen and Jamie snapped to attention. She glared suspiciously at the pair of them.

“Like you, I detest slavery”, Edward said, “and I am pleased that for all its failings this government is beginning to pressure those barbaric North African states whose pirates raid our shores far too often. One day, God willing, we will have the power to sweep them from the seas and make the world a better place. I will write back and inform these gentlemen that sadly I do not have the funds to invest just now.”

“Very good”, his wife smiled. "And Mr. Buchanan, that innocent look of yours still does not fool me so stop it _right now!”_

Jamie blushed, having very clearly been about to mouth the word 'whipped' across to his lover. Stephen would have smirked at his lover's discomfiture but he did not dare!

MDCLV

**June 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“This new pope¹ is clearly not very bright”. Stephen said, smiling as he read his letter.

“If he has upset Cromwell, then he is hardly off to the best of starts”, Jamie agreed as they worked on one of their new walls. “What has he gone and done?”

“His predecessor had gotten into an argument with us over his encouraging the persecution of Protestants in the Vaudois, an area around the Franco-Swiss border”, Stephen said. “Cromwell, ever eager to be the Protestant champion, had asked Rome to desist; it was the new pope who wrote back and he sneered that our illustrious leader could hardly send the English Navy to the middle of the Continent!”

“That is true”, Jamie conceded. Stephen chuckled.

“So Cromwell shot back that yes, that would have been difficult”, he said. “But he went on to point out that said navy could very easily sail the length and breadth of the Papal States, sink every ship they find and flatten the entire coastline if the Holy Father did not start being a damn sight more reasonable!”

“Nice to see your relative has that subtlety thing mastered!” Jamie snarked.

“It worked”, Stephen said. “It will certainly make the Continental powers sit up and take notice. It is all very well having powerful armed forces but if you do not use them then people will take advantage; we remember how the late king's navy sat in port while pirates and slave-traders flourished in the run-up to the recent wars.”

“That is true”, Jamie said. “I have seen battles lost in my time not through numbers – though that is important – but through a commander's or ruler's weakness of character.”

“But you came through it and are here now”, Stephen smiled. “Happy just building a wall in an Oxfordshire field.”

“I will be happier when we stop for sex later!” Jamie grinned.

The nobleman sighed. His lover was.... oh, from that impressive bulge under his kilt it was apparently 'later' right now. Ah well.

MDCLV

**August 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I am sure that Penn and his fellow commanders will be thrown in the Tower when they get back”, Stephen said, “and the humiliation undoes a lot of the good work over the Vaudois. But I still think that it is for the best in the long run.”

“Try telling your in-law that!” Jamie scoffed. “He tells his commanders to go and seize Spain's second-largest island in the Caribbean and they send back that they messed up the operation but look, they managed to bag themselves a consolation prize.”

“Santiago will as I said prove a better base in the long run”, Stephen said confidently. “Much easier to defend, although I dare say that it will be hard to persuade settlers to move there what with the dreadful climate. That is the downside of those rich islands; the weather needed to grow sugar kills far too many men including those defending them.”

“Especially those poor souls who have been 'Barbadosed'!” Jamie said. “The news-sheets are making fun of the regime for having seized the wrong island.”

“The day that these news-sheets cover the news accurately will be the day that hell freezes over!” Stephen snorted. “Although I do wish that Cromwell would just give up on trying to censor the ones that speak out against him. It has little effect on them and only makes his government look bad.”

“Ah yes, his parliamentary government under his beloved Instrument”, Jamie quipped. “Oh wait – he dismissed parliament after five _lunar_ months. Oopsie!”

“You are terrible!” Stephen sighed.

“Cromwell has his Instrument of Government and I have my own mighty instrument”, Jamie grinned. “As you found out last night, remember?”

The nobleman blushed. They had finished the outside work of the extension and Jamie had marked the occasion by.... safe to say that Edward had just rolled his eyes at him when the nobleman had limped over to the Hall that morning.

Happy memories!

MDCLV

**August 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

It was well that the outside work on their home was complete, for later that month there was a major storm which tested their handiwork. Thankfully it passed the test with flying colours and a few days later they were continuing with their work when Chatton dropped by.

“I brought the news-sheet from Oxford when I went down this morning”, he said, taking a seat on the bench, “and dropped it off to my Lord Edward just now. I am sure he will pass it on later but I thought that as I wanted a walk I would bring you the main news. The storm we had here was part of an even greater one in the Channel with many ships lost, and much damage to the south coast.”

“We are lucky being inland”, Stephen said, “away from the full force of the thing. You did not wish to hurry back to Fraser?”

The steward grinned.

“He may be sixty-six now but we marked the storm with our own 'celebrations'”, he smiled. “Three days on and he is still recovering from having reminded me 'who is the boss'. I had to step out to stop him catching me from smiling at his being so tired!”

“Some older men do not have the stamina”, Jamie said with a sly smile.

“Says the man who is a week older than me!” Stephen retorted. “Eight days in fact!”

“Ladies!” Chatton said in a tone of mild reproof. “Please restrain yourselves!”

“Not to worry”, Jamie said. “I shall certainly restrain him tonight!”

Stephen shuddered in anticipation.

“Is Edward any better?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.

The steward smirked at his evasion but answered.

“Yes, and it was only a mild summer cough”, he said. “I know that Thunor was fretful after he came back from Oxford the other week and they only then learned that the fellow he was visiting thought he may have had the plague, but thankfully he was mistaken.”

Both men heaved a sigh of relief.

“We should celebrate his safe deliverance”, Jamie grinned.

Suddenly Stephen was not that relieved after all!

MDCLV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Alexander the Seventh (1655-1667). Virulently anti-French, he reignited religious tensions across Europe and pursued a pro-Spanish policy that led to problems later in his pontificate._


	16. Difficile Et Longum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-December 1655.   
> Cromwell tries a new way to make England more godly, which threatens problems for his in-law up in Oxfordshire. Thunor presents Stephen and Jamie with a house-warming gift that is highly appropriate, and a man is appointed to a committee. A prisoner is once again moved to a different gaol and a group of people are not told to not come to England.

**August 1655**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I do not wish to speak ill of family”, Jamie said, “especially your own, Ste. But I do think that Cromwell has lost the plot this time!”

“It is the Puritan in him”, Stephen sighed. “He thinks that by having a dozen or so of these major-generals in various regions, he can make the country more godly.”

“Presumably he will visit the Moon while he is at it!” Jamie scoffed. “They will only succeed in riling people up even more, especially when they start cracking down on Christmas again. As for telling people that dancing around the maypole is dangerous so the things have to be taken down – pathetic!”

“I am afraid that that is not the worst of it”, Stephen sighed. “The fellow in charge of our county is to be Fleetwood!”

Jamie winced.

“As in your almost-relative?” he asked. “Ugh!”

“I suppose that as he married Cromwell's daughter Bridget after poor Ireton died and Luke is married to Bridget's sister, then yes”, Stephen conceded, wincing at the thought. “It is hardly a good omen; we all know that Fleetwood was pulled from Ireland because he made such a mess of things by pushing his Puritanical ways over there. If he does the same thing here, it will not go well.”

“That is all we need”, Jamie sighed. “It will be having the servants on the roof at Christmas so they can spot soldiers approaching, as happens in so many towns and villages. Why does government has to make such a mess of everything?”

“Because they are doing what they think is right”, Stephen said, “and that justifies anything in their eyes. Well, we shall have to see.”

MDCLV

**September 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Fleetwood has not made a good start.”

Jamie looked up to see his lover smiling over his latest letter.

“He has barely been in office five minutes”, the soldier said. “Upsetting someone so fast is impressive, even by his standards. Who was it?”

“Luckily for us, his father-in-law”, Stephen said. “The major-general was asked to draw up a list of Royalists who would be mulched for this new Decimation Tax; a tenth of their income and a fifteenth of their property.”

“Which is another set of promises made by the army to surrendered Royalists that they are reneging on”, Jamie said. “And?”

“It seems that Fleetwood 'accidentally' put Edward on the list as a Royalist”, Stephen grinned, “and Cromwell was not best pleased. His son-in-law has been told very forcibly to get his act together, or else!”

“I suppose that as a sort of relative it would be too much to hope that he too gets 'Barbadosed'”, Jamie said with a sigh. “Still, you never know!”

Stephen smiled at his lover as they went back to work.

MDCLV

**October 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Stephen quirked an eyebrow as Jamie, with great ceremony, hung the framed embroidery on the wall. Their new home was finally complete.

“Thunor?” he asked.

Jamie snickered and nodded. The words that had been so carefully embroidered were 'Vita Est Difficile Et Longum' – 'Life Is Long And Hard'. Which the donor had openly smirked over when she had given it to them last week!

“Better that than something trite like 'Home, Sweet Home'”, the soldier said. “And true – for you the next few days as we christen every single room will indeed be long and hard.”

“We did that when we finished each room”, Stephen pointed out with a smile.

“Aye”, Jamie said, “but now we have a completed house so we need to do it again!”

Stephen opened his mouth to object, then thought – why object to the prospect of more sex? And the way his lover was looking at him, that prospect was imminent!

MDCLV

**October 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Cromwell has had Lilburne moved to Dover”, Jamie told Stephen some days later. “For his health he claims, although we all know that the poor man's family and friends have been petitioning to have him somewhere they can see him.”

“With the roads today, Dover is barely more accessible than Jersey”, Stephen sighed. “My head!”

“I would have thought you were more worried about the other end!” his lover grinned.

Stephen would have scowled at him, but he was not sure he could manage it. He settled instead for an eye-roll, but even that hurt!

“And your in-law is still granting some exemptions from this new Decimation Tax”, Jamie went on, smirking for no good reason. “The Council of State is not happy but they are going with him, for now.”

Stephen nodded. That hurt too!

“Then there are the complaints about the new major-generals”, Jamie said. “Far too many of them in the Fleetwood mould, thinking to enforce their beliefs on the local populace and causing upset as a result. Some people just cannot get it.”

Stephen sighed and tried to make himself more comfortable. Or at least less uncomfortable.

“Whereas you, on the other hand, always get it!” Jamie said brightly. “Up for another round?”

The nobleman groaned and rolled over to escape his tormentor. That, it turned out, was a mistake.....

MDCLV

Thankfully the wind was in the wrong direction, else they might well have heard the ensuing scream at the Hall!

MDCLV

**November 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Ah.”

Jamie looked up at his lover.

“What?” he asked. 

“Cromwell has appointed his eldest son Richard to the Committee of Trade and Navigation.”

The soldier nodded.

“Preparing him for the succession”, he said. “You know, like a monarchy where the eldest son inherits. Some countries have those, I hear.”

Stephen rolled his eyes at the snarky bastard.

“Given how tired he has been sounding of late, that succession may not be far off”, he sighed. Lord alone knows how England will survive it. Like with Henry Frederick, one wonders what sort of leaders my friend's two elder sons would have made had they not passed.”

“Robert and Oliver”, Jamie said. “I did wonder if Cromwell came to hate the king because young Oliver died on campaign, even if it was fever.”

“I remember you saying once that that accounted for as many men as actual battles, one time”, Stephen recalled.

“We run things very ill considering we deal with men's lives in war”, Jamie said. “I can but hope that one day we will do better. How is Thunor doing by the way?”

“Still throwing up”, Stephen sighed. “This pregnancy is worse than the last one she says, though she thinks that she will have a boy again.”

“That might just be in time for our trip then”, Jamie said. “Unless another tree contrives to fall on this place!”

MDCLV

**December 1655**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Do you think that Cromwell might say yes?”

Stephen thought for a moment.

“I think rather that he will not say no”, he said. “This plea by the Jews for readmission to England will rankle more than a few feathers, but given the parlous state of the government's finances and those people's ability to make money out of thin air, they would be a valuable asset. I suspect that he will give the nod to their return without making it official, then let everyone know that he approves.”

“You mean that he approves and anyone who disagrees 'may' end up being 'Barbadosed?'” Jamie grinned.

“Exactly!”

MDCLV


	17. Money Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-May 1656.   
> A year that will see Stephen and Jamie return to the soldier's native Scotland, and is marked back home by continuing constitutional chaos. Cromwell's major-generals find themselves both despised and destitute as the people they oversee grab them hard by the purse-strings. Abroad things continues to be a mess while at home plots against Cromwell continue to fail.

**January 1656**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“A letter from Adey”, Stephen yawned. “He has found himself stuck in Newcastle with all these storms and his waiting things out rather than trying to battle his way home.”

“A wise move”, Jamie agreed, “given the sheer awfulness of this country's roads. I blame the government!”

Stephen swatted at him, and earned himself an injured look in return.

“He also says that it is much worse in Scotland”, the nobleman said. “A ship came in from Edinburgh while he was there with the news.”

“Hopefully it will be better later in the year”, Jamie said abstractedly, “so I can fuck you in as many Scottish counties as possible!”

Stephen just sighed at the horny bastard.

MDCLVI

**February 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“And that is why they say, cash is king.”

Jamie smirked as his lover sat down very carefully at the table. The night before had been one of those rare occasions when he decided that it was better to receive than give, and he knew that it really annoyed the nobleman that he ended up just as sore and exhausted either way! Not that he had smirked about it for the whole of today.

There had been that moment earlier when he had sneezed.

“The major-generals?” the soldier hazarded. 

Stephen nodded.

“Even the imperious Fleetwood is having to bow to the unpleasant fact that locals who you boss around one minute for some reason take umbrage when you demand money the next”, he said. “The major-generals are having to pull in their horns because they do not have the cash to get by, let alone make England a more godly country.”

“They seem to have managed it with you”, Jamie grinned. “I recall that you invoked the name of Lord several times last night!”

Stephen blushed. Damn his lover and his memory!

“Well, I had to make the most of my opportunity”, he countered, wondering if he could slip away later and apply some unguent to his poor, exhausted dick.

“Very true”, Jamie said, rising to his feet. “You deserve more such opportunities. Starting right now!”

Stephen gulped.

MDCLVI

He had to wear the kilt for the next two days! And worse, Chatton came by with a letter and openly smirked at the nobleman's discomfiture! No respect, some people!

MDCLVI

**February 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“How good it must be to be so loved by one's people”, Jamie teased. “It is not as if Cromwell has to employ a life-guard of some one hundred and sixty veteran soldiers to protect himself from assassination attempts – oh wait. He has done just that.”

Stephen scowled at his lover.

“We in particular should be thankful for my in-law”, he said. “If what we all get up to here ever got out, then without Cromwell looming over us there would be hell to pay!”

“Thankfully he is not keeping tabs on us any more”, Jamie said.

Stephen quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You think?” he said. “So his mentioning in his last letter than he hoped you made good use of the package that Diana had sent to us from that discrete shop off Whitehall?”

Jamie blushed.

“I did make good use of it, though”, he said, smiling at the memory. “Which is why you got a lot of wear out of your kilts ever since!”

Stephen just rolled his eyes at him.

MDCLVI

**March 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Why Fifth?”

Stephen looked across at his lover in confusion.

“What?”

“Why Fifth Monarchists?” Jamie asked. “Who were the first four? And what do they want anyway?”

“Oh”, Stephen said. “They are one of these weird fringe grouping who read the Bible in such a way that after the four great empires – Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman – then God's representative will rule for a thousand years – that is the Pope, they say – after which there will be the fabled Rule of the Saints.”'

Jamie smirked.

“Let me hazard a wild guess there”, he said. “The rule of the saints will need 'interpreters' or 'guides', and they are very generously putting themselves forward for those positions.”

“So cynical”, Stephen sighed.

“I would be nicer to the man who will be fucking you just before we go to Holy Cross to atone for our sins!”

The nobleman rolled his eyes at his lover. Impossibly the horny bastard was contriving to get even worse!

Stephen still loved him, though.

MDCLVI

**April 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It does not say much for our potential future king that he is so stupid”, Stephen sighed. “Thinking that his secret deal with the Spanish to regain his throne would magically stay hidden from Cromwell's eyes.”

“What has he signed up to?” Jamie asked.

“He has promised assistance to crush the Portuguese once he is safely on the throne”, Stephen said, “and has pledged to return Santiago to Madrid as well as handing over Antigua and Montserrat¹.”

“I do not know Montserrat”, Jamie said. “Is it a new place?”

“One of those unoccupied islands – except by natives, I suppose – just south of Antigua that we took recently”, Stephen said. “I remember reading about it one time; they were calling it an Irish province as the first settlers came from Antigua and were all Irishmen. And possibly soon Spaniards.”

“Cosying up to a major Catholic power will win the king few friends in England”, Jamie said. “They also say he is one of those 'paper Protestants'.”

“He will have to keep it under his paper if he ever wants to be king here”, Stephen said. “I very much doubt that a Catholic Stuart monarch would work for any length of time in this day and age.²”

MDCLVI

**May 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Captain Quicksilver and Bruce were moving into the cottage during their Scottish trip, the departure for which was being delayed until Thunor had had her latest happy event. Which duly arrived on May Day along with a second son, to be called Henry.

Also arriving was a group of soldiers from King's Linton whose commanding officer was clearly suspicious that some horrible people were celebrating a pagan festival like May Day. He did demand to see the new infant but made the mistake of questioning Thunor first, and limped away from the Hall with a painful reminder of his stupidity in upsetting a new mother who had a knitting needle to hand. And who was prepared to aim her first hit low!

“Off to my homeland!” Jamie smiled. “Where I can wear my kilt again, thank God!”

That was one minor annoyance about their journey, namely that while the soldier could wear his kilt around the estate as he was known in the area, doing so as he crossed England would likely attract unwelcome attention. It had after all been but five years since a Scottish army had invaded and pillaged the north in their attempt to enforce Presbyterianism on the southern kingdom, and people's memories were long over such things.

“I like you in all your kilts”, Stephen smiled. “Better out of them, though.”

Jamie kissed him and they set off on their great adventure.

MDCLVI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) As of 2020 a British Overseas Territory. The southern half of the island was decimated in the 1995 eruption of the Soufrière Volcano which destroyed the old capital Plymouth and is still off limits to all visitors; a new capital is under construction at Little Bay on the north coast._   
>  _2) This theory would be proven dramatically right in the short but disastrous reign of Charles the Second's brother James the Seventh and Second (1685-1688)._


	18. A Lowland Fling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May-August 1656.   
> After calling in on his family in Northumberland and exchanging their English coin for Scottish, Stephen and Jamie set off on a journey of philanthropy and pleasure. As well as assisting the depressed poor folks of the Borders they are also able to do a service for a cousin of the nobleman who has been saddled with an unpleasant, scheming steward, then it is a leisurely (if sex-filled) return south to their cottage.

**May 1656**   
**Staward, Northumberland, ENGLAND**

Their first destination was Stephen's old home, where they were welcomed by Aidan and Mary. Stephen got to see his new great-nieces for the first time, and tried not to listen when his mother, sixty-five now, told him how she and his stepfather (forty-five but looking closer to his wife's age as well as utterly exhausted) were 'still getting it on'. There was sharing and there was oversharing!

Aidan had prepared for their coming and had arranged for a Scottish merchant based in Carlisle to call round the next day to purchase the grain and other items that they had brought. The coins¹ the two men got in return could be handed out to those worse affected by the northern kingdom's recent run of terrible weather and poor harvests, although they were also keeping some for Stephen's cousin Paul who had recently taken over from his father Peter in running the old Wormit estate.

Stephen really did not think it necessary for his brother to have threatened physical harm if he let Jamie talk to his wife and give her 'ideas'. He did promise to stop the rogue if he saw him doing such a thing, which may have been slightly disingenuous of him as he knew it had already happened. And from his brother's evil glare and a definite list the day of their departure, he could see the results!

Be fair! It was only a _small_ smirk!

MDCLVI

**May 1656**  
 **Bonjedward, Roxburghshire, SCOTLAND**

The two men had ridden along what had presumably been an old Roman road from its relative straightness and good condition, and had paused briefly at Otterburn to look at the battlefield of Chevy Chase there. Jamie had not smirked at all at it being a rare Scottish victory, nor had be taken it badly when Stephen had countered by pointing out that it would be the last such before Newburn, over two and half centuries later. No, Jamie had not taken that all all badly.

Stephen, on the other hand, had taken it all right! Three times in the nearest barn!

They had stopped the previous night in the small Border town of Jedburgh which had seemed in a reasonable condition. But as Jamie had pointed out that was arguably not a fair guide, and this village only a few miles to the north proved him right.

“Towns always cope better with hard times”, Jamie said, “which is why country people flock to them at such. There are more likely to be almshouses and people who will give to the poor, leaving the likes of this sort of place even more of a wreck.”

That was true, Stephen conceded. They had picked up a news-sheet in the town which had bemoaned the state of the finances in all Three Kingdoms, but here in these few mean cottages that came with a more personal feeling. They left a coin with each dweller, much to their amazement in every case, before moving on.

MDCLVI

**June 1656**  
 **Lauder, Berwickshire, SCOTLAND**

Both men agreed that this place might just buck the rules of greater prosperity (or at least less poverty) during harsh times. It was supposed to be one of the larger towns in Scotland but all the signs pointed to a recent decline, and Jamie thought he knew why.

“Swings and roundabouts”, he explained. “The Union of the Crowns was a good thing for most places along the Border – not having your locals killed every five minutes and all that – but for somewhere handily placed near Edinburgh and a useful rallying-point for an invasion army, it likely spelled disaster. I would wager that they had made a good business out of war down here before we had peace.”

“Or at least our current peace”, Jamie sighed, “which keeps teetering on the brink of war. What do you think of this news about Lilburne?”

“Converted to a Quaker”, Stephen said. “I rather think it might be true, and not just so he can be let out even if he has been. Cromwell is too wily a fox to fall for such a ruse, and he would have double-checked. Freeborn John is also reported to have been ill so maybe it was a near-deathbed conversion.”

“Time marches on”, Jamie sighed. “Balmerino, Pym, Lilburne.... it makes me feel my age.”

The nobleman nodded.

“But I would much rather be feeling my cock in your delicious arse!”

Stephen just rolled his eyes at the rogue.

MDCLVI

**June 1656**  
 **Kinross, Kinross-shire, SCOTLAND**

Neither man had much liked Edinburgh, the northern capital seeming to have grown even bigger and dirtier than they remembered it, and they soon took the boat over to Burntisland. They had one more stop planned before reaching their destination and it had surprised Stephen somewhat.

“I did not take you for a history buff”, he smiled.

“I seem to recall that you took me last night all right”, Jamie grinned. “Twice!”

Stephen just sighed at him.

“I meant coming to this place just because of Mary Queen of Scots”, he said. “Not that you can go anywhere in Scotland without being told that she stayed there; about the only things she shared with her English cousin were her sex and her tendency to always bag a free night's sleep at someone else's expense.”

“I heard the story about how she was kept in the castle in the loch”, Jamie said, “and I wanted to see it for myself. I had thought it would be more cut off; a dry summer and it might be possible to wade across.”

Stephen was about to agree when he got it.

“You want to have sex on the damn island!” he exclaimed. “You are terrible!”

Jamie just looked at him.

MDCLVI

As if you have to even ask!

MDCLVI

**June 1656**  
 **Wormit, Fifeshire, SCOTLAND**

Stephen was still sore when they finally reached his cousin Paul's house. The young man – all right, he was only three years their junior – did not come over as a particularly strong character and Stephen had gotten the impression from Aidan that he was worried about him in some way.

With good reason. It took the two men barely a day to pinpoint the cause of Paul's troubles, namely the slimy steward Joscelyn Mourne, who was clearly running rings around his master.

While Jamie ran through the estate papers (after having very pointedly showed his dagger to the steward and told him that objections would be dealt with 'pointedly'), Stephen wrote to Diana in London then took a boat over to Dundee where he was fortunate to find a trader heading that way. With luck his missive would be there in a week and then his sister-in-law could use her courier service to get an answer back to him not long after.

In fact Diana exceeded even Stephen's expectations and less than three weeks later they knew everything that was to know about the unpleasant Mr. Morne, including a few things that they really wished that they had not known (seriously, garden implements?). Of less traumatizing help there was more than enough proof to show that he had been defrauding the estate ever since Paul's having taken it over, and he was soon being dragged off to a Dundee gaol cell.

It did however mean that the two men's Scottish holiday became very much a working one as they strove to recover the stolen funds and to put the estate back on its feet (not forgetting to sign up the place's former steward for a free, one-way trip to the Barbadoes). But that was all right; Jamie always said how much he enjoyed knocking his tired lover off his feet every single night!

MDCLVI

**July 1656**  
 **Wormit, Fifeshire, SCOTLAND**

A surprise discovery during their second month's working holiday was that there was an estate which the rascally steward had set aside for his own purposes. The estate's neighbour Lord Balmerino, whose petition had been one of the causes of the Stuart dynasty's downfall, had died back in 1649 and had left a small estate up in Forfarshire to his youngest son Angus. This fellow had died unmarried at the end of the previous year, and the terms of the bequest meant that it had then fallen to Peter Amerike just days before he had retired. The steward had suppressed the news and kept the estate for himself; now Paul decided to sell it and asked that some of the funds should be used to support those in the county who had struggled over recent years. It was arranged that Stephen and Jamie would detour around the Fife coast on their way back south and distribute this new largesse.

“There is news from the Continent”, Stephen told his lover just days before their departure. “The Spanish have pulled off a surprise victory against the French at Valenciennes, along the fabled Spanish Road.”

“That is good for parliament”, Jamie said. “There were rumours that Madrid was open to a truce and possibly a full peace, but the scent of victory or at least a less humiliating defeat will make them dig their heels in.”

“And will increase the odds of a full alliance between us and the French”, Stephen agreed. “The war goes merrily on.”

MDCLVI

**August 1656**  
 **Lindisfarne, Northumberland, ENGLAND**

They had said goodbye to Paul and after visiting St. Andrew's had spent a pleasant two weeks travelling round the isolated villages of the Fife coast, distributing coins to those in need. Then it was back over the Forth to Edinburgh and a return via the coastal road. Stephen was not surprised that Jamie did not wish to stop at the famous battlefield at Dunbar; the gruesome aftermath of that great victory was still sore for him.

Mostly they had stayed in towns along the way, but this particular day they had crossed the causeway connecting England to Holy Island in order to visit the abandoned monastery there again. Stephen had visited it while his lover had been away at his German wars – gulp! - nearly three decades back, but it was still an eerily beautiful place and they both agreed that they would wish to overnight there. Stephen had his Winter Soldier back, and nothing was ever going to part them!

MDCLVI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Legally Scottish and English coins were of the same value, but with the current 'strained' relations between the two countries, anyone presenting English coins North of the Border (without a weapon to hand) would certainly have received less than their full value._


	19. T's And C's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-December 1656.   
> The two men return home with a quiet and restrained celebration (well, there are restraints!). It's hullo to a brand-new parliament but an immediate goodbye to a third of its members when Cromwell 'forgets' to mention their new terms and conditions of employment. There are stormy skies over Charlton while over at the Hall Edward is the man, mainly because he has learned to celebrate in private.

**August 1656**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The rest of the journey home was uneventful, except that in Banbury they had received news that yet another Royalist plot had been uncovered in London with dozens more arrested. Although as Jamie quipped, that barely counted as news any more!

Finally they rode up to the cottage where Bruce was waiting to greet them.

“I sent Pete on ahead to open up our place”, he smiled. “I used some of your boxes on him last night, Jamie, so he may have screamed a bit as he got on his horse. Lucky for him I am far too much a kern to have heard that!”

They thanked him for taking care of the place and he left. Then they went inside for a quiet drink and a rest.

MDCLVI

Despite covering a fair distance, Bruce still heard the nobleman screaming his pleasure as he walked to the footbridge.

“I really should have closed that window”, he muttered to himself.

MDCLVI

**September 1656**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“John Fish?” Stephen asked.

“Sounds fishy to me!” said someone who was sleeping on the sofa tonight if he kept coming out with things like that. Edward and Stephen both glared at him.

“Jackson, the fellow we have in the London house at the moment, was suspicious about the fellow who approached Vale about renting the end house”, Edward said. “Especially as he just happened to come round one of the few times that Diana was not there. He thinks that he may be up to something.”

“Whitehall”, Jamie said at once.

“What about it?” Stephen asked.

“The end house has some windows facing out towards the palace”, Jamie said, “let alone that it is technically on palace grounds though I am sure Cromwell's new bodyguard is watching for any trouble from that direction. But someone with a matchlock could get a good shot at the Lord Protector from one of those windows.”

“I thought that too”, Edward said.

Jamie looked hard at him. The young man blushed.

“All right, Thunor pointed it out to me”, he admitted. “Leave a fellow some pride here!”

“Why?” Jamie grinned. “I never leave Ste any!”

They both glared at him. Again.

“We wrote immediately to both Diana and to Cromwell”, Edward said. “It was last week only a few days before you were due back, but we could not take the chance that you might not be delayed.”

“You did very well, sir”, Stephen said. “And soon we shall see if by thinking the worst we are right.”

“It usually works”, Jamie smiled.

MDCLVI

**September 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“One hundred and fifty?”

Stephen re-read the news-sheet and nodded.

“Yes”, he said. “Typical Cromwell; he called this Second Protectorate Parliament and told them what he expected of them, but when they marched over to Westminster they were told that those not on the 'approved list' were to be debarred. A hundred or so were shut out, and a further fifty have quit in protest. About a third of the total strength of the place.”

“Your in-law must be feeling better after this mysterious 'John Fish' seems to have abandoned his plans to rent our house”, Jamie smiled.

To his surprise, his lover frowned.

“That is what worries me”, he said. “We know how dedicated Cromwell is to setting things out for people and laying down the rules, but the writer notes that he only gave a few what I suppose were 'perfunctory remarks' before leaving the rest of his speech to his subordinates.”

“You suppose?” Jamie asked.

“The printer clearly needs access to a better type-setter”, Stephen said. “I very much doubt that the Lord Protector actually delivered some 'perforated remarks'!”

Jamie smiled at that.

MDCLVI

**November 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

A huge storm was rolling up the valley, the rain beating fiercely on the windows of the cottage. Stephen was thankful that as part of the repairs they had chopped down the three other trees within striking distance of the cottage; even so a few branches had been thrown to the ground behind the place. The winds were terrible, so both men were surprised when they had a visitor.

“I thought that I could come over and give you the happy news”, Chatton said, sitting down.

“You finally got Fraser pregnant?” Jamie exclaimed. They both rolled their eyes at him.

“Despite trying, sadly no”, the steward said, “but Edward has gotten Thunor pregnant again, the stud. And after she caught him celebrating last time he came to our place and asked if he could use it to let rip as to how 'he was the man'.”

“Turfing you and Fraser out in this weather?” Stephen asked, surprised.

The steward blushed.

“We went down into the stables and.... he always gets extra horny when there is a storm like this, so we let rip there. I was a bit worried as this is the third one this month but he was lying there smiling when I left, so I thought that I would save my master a trip.”

Jamie snickered. The steward blushed.

“Though now I am here”, he said casually, “I might as well borrow your Special Boxes?”

They both laughed at him.

MDCLVI

**December 1656**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Who would have thought it?” Jamie exclaimed in mock astonishment. “That banning one third of the chamber would cause the remaining two-thirds to ask for their return? Colour me astonished!”

Stephen rolled his eyes at the snarky bastard as he finished writing his letter. An irksome officer belonging to Fleetwood's crew down at Oxford was making life difficult in the area by trying to enforce his Puritan views, so the nobleman had had Diana look into it for him. He had soon after been advised that he might wish to tone things down unless he wanted his irascible commanding officer to find out about his stealing moneys destined for his own men. And sleeping with the daughter of one of his fellow officers. Fleetwood would be told in the New Year anyway but at least it would make for a quiet Christmas that Stephen and Jamie would not be celebrating. 

Much.

“Thunor is sure that she is having a girl this time”, he said, “as the morning sickness is a lot less than the first two times. It is a good thing that you were never able to get me pregnant or I would have been permanently up the duff!”

“Still not too late!” Jamie grinned. “In fact, I had better try again right now!”

Stephen just sighed, but hastened to obey.

MDCLVI


	20. King Olly?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-April 1657.   
> A victory at sea, another new family member an an unlucky assassin make for an interesting time all round as Stephen is not at all smug at having proved his lover wrong for once (yeah right!). There is the prospect of a new royal family while the old one remains as hopelessly optimistic as ever. Sigh.

**January 1657**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The new year very nearly started with a bang when news reached the valley about another assassination attempt on the Lord Protector.

“And one of his new life guards involved to boot!” Stephen exclaimed. “A fellow called John Toope; he had planned to let them burn Whitehall to the ground with Cromwell inside it, but his nerve broke and he betrayed them at the last minute.”

“That can happen with a man”, Jamie said sagely, “especially a soldier. The human spirit is a lot more fragile than many think; I know of several men I served with who could not cope with peacetime....”

He trailed off, frowning. Stephen hurried over to embrace him, knowing that he was thinking of his own dark time after the horror and shocking events of Durham not that far back. They sat there in the gathering gloom, silent but safe in each other's arms.

MDCLVII

**January 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie stared incredulously at his lover.

“Come again”, he said. “My hearing must be going. I could have sworn that you said parliament was thinking of offering Cromwell the crown despite his all but refusal last year.”

“It is not so strange a move as it appears”, Stephen said, smiling at his lover's reaction. “We both know how legalistic Cromwell is; as King Oliver the First he would act within far greater constraints that he does now as Lord Protector. Considering the mess that the current parliament is, it was quite clever of them to have come up with the idea.”

“It would certainly spike King Charles the Second”, Jamie mused, “finding himself opposing a monarch who is in charge by right of conquest. Other Continental powers would, I am sure, soon come round.”

“But only if he lasts”, Stephen said. “That news-sheet was I think right about his being tired of late; he sounded totally fed up in his last letter even though he had been cheered by Luke and Anne visiting him at Hampton Court. Definitely better there than London.”

“His son seems but a pale shadow of the man”, Jamie said. “I fear more trouble if it happens – when it happens – and possibly even another civil war. We are well out of it up here.”

MDCLVII

Ah.

MDCLVII

**February 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I do wonder if the guards looked the other way”, Stephen mused. “The one fellow they caught¹ and sentenced from those trying to kill Cromwell, and he 'just happens' to be visited by a family member the night before his being hung, drawn and quartered who 'just happens' to have had a vial of poison on them. I would have expected that they search most visitors there for security.”

“But they still dragged his body to the gallows and buried it there”, Jamie said. The mob must have its bloody entertainment, and the opponents of the Protectorate their reminder of the fate that awaits them. Not that it will dissuade them at all. Are you recovered yet?”

Stephen scowled at him. The previous day they had gone down to Oxford and tried out a new place where they served some strange drink called coffee. It was, the nobleman had thought, too bitter for him, but Jamie had loved it and had even purchased some beans so he could try making some back at the cottage.

New rule before sex: James Buchanan Barnes was not on any account to be allowed within a thousand miles of this thing called coffee. All night, every time that Stephen had finally thought that the horn-dog must surely have run out of energy, he had started up again. No man should be subject to eight hours of non-stop sex!

Well, maybe one man....

MDCLVII

**February 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“You have to love those members of parliament if only for their daft words!” Jamie grinned. “It took them nearly a week before they decided – not on what they were going to do but what they were going to call it. Then they go and tell Cromwell that they have this Humble Petition and Advice which means, will you be king, dilly-dilly?”

“I do not think that he will accept”, Stephen said thoughtfully. “Not that he would not make a good king – he would – but because he is at the end of the day a soldier's soldier, and many of his men will be horrified at the idea. It would make all their fighting seem to have been for naught.”

“I suppose that that might be one upside”, Jamie mused. “Lambert dying of shock when he finds out!”

“Bearing in mind that it took parliament a week to decide on the name of the thing, I am sure he knows already”, Stephen said. “And I am sure that many officers have made their views clear to my in-law. Unfortunately.”

Jamie looked at him in surprise.

“What is unfortunate about that?” he asked.

“Because I know my relative”, Stephen said, looking troubled. “On his own I think that he would reject this, and he will be right so to do – but if the likes of Lambert try to force away from it by badgering him, he will push back and may end up agreeing to it because of that!”

“Rather petty, do you not think?” Jamie asked.

“Too many men are, even the great ones”, Stephen said. “I do not think it will happen but it is a possibility. Who knows – I may be related to a king one day.”

He wished the words unsaid as soon as they were out, but luckily his lover did not notice his sudden tension.

“I already am, I suppose”, Jamie said, further alarming his lover before adding, “being descended from the Montrose line which links back to the first Stuart king. And yes, I did write to Cromwell to thank him for sparing young Montrose from the fool's involvement in Glencairn's Uprising. I am sure that he saw through my insincerity as he wrote back not only that the young man should consider himself on a final warning, but also that you might be careful as to a certain red item that you wore when in church!”

Stephen stared at his lover in horror. Ye Gods, how did his in-law know about those?

MDCLVII

**March 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The king has postponed his plans to invade”, Stephen told Jamie a few days later. “He is reportedly hoping that the backlash against 'King Oliver' may destabilize the Protectorate and cause it to crumble from within.”

“Sort of Catholic _and_ hopelessly optimistic”, Jamie sighed. “I know that monarchy is like a fairground in that you do not get a coconut every time, but I was hoping for less of a nut this time round.”

“I would wager that Cromwell's agents have been spreading news of unrest so that the king has been deflected in this way”, Stephen said. “Although having no army and nowhere to land, it would not have been much of an invasion.”

“Rumour is that he is hoping Phil the Spaniard will oblige him in return for those Caribbean islands”, Jamie said, “though now the war with France is continuing that seems unlikely any time soon.”

“Cromwell also asked me what I think of the system of major-generals”, Stephen said.

Jamie opened his mouth to reply.

“Polite answers only!” Stephen said quickly.

“You are no fun!”

“I wrote back with what they are like here”, Stephen said, “and told him what I had heard elsewhere. Getting rid of them would be a good move, especially just now.”

“That will never happen!” Jamie said firmly.

MDCLVII

**March 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Edward sidled up to Stephen after the service.

“Pardon me for asking, sir”, he said carefully, “but have you and Mr. Buchanan had an argument of some sort?”

Stephen chuckled, even more so when the object of their conversation scowled across the churchyard at him.

“No”, he said. “He merely said that he was sure Cromwell would not abolish the major-generals, which as you know he has just done.”

“And he is sore about losing an argument?” Edward said, clearly surprised. “That is unlike him.”

His wife came up to them both.

“Judging from the smirk on my Lord Amerike's features”, she said with a knowing smile, “I rather think that Mr. Buchanan is sore for matters arising thereof!”

The Earl of Bradstock looked perplexed for a moment before he realized.

“Oh”, he said. “I get it now.”

“As opposed to Mr. Buchanan, who from the way he is walking has clearly had it!” the countess smiled. “Home, dear.”

She bustled her husband out of the churchyard and Stephen allowed himself another smirk. He would certainly pay for his triumph later, which.... was in no way stopping him from smirking even more!

MDCLVII

**April 1657**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“A daughter”, Stephen beamed. “Congratulations, Edward!”

“We are calling her Elizabeth, after our greatest queen”, the earl said. “Would you believe it; just as the midwife was laying the bairn to rest, Thunor looked at me and said, 'ready to try for number four?'”

“I cannot think where she gets that from”, Stephen said flatly, looking very pointedly at his lover. Jamie shrugged his shoulders.

“Girl has good skills”, he said. “Why waste them waiting?”

“With three children to raise I would quite appreciate some waiting, thank you very much!” Edward said fervently. “And if you start giving her any more ideas Mr. Buchanan, I shall recommend you for this Flanders army that Cromwell is raising.”

“The French will probably pay him for me to stay away”, Jamie grinned. “Think of me let loose among all those pretty French ladies!”

Stephen scowled at him for that.

MDCLVII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Miles Sindercombe, birthdate unknown. Incredibly this was his sixth attempt against the Lord Protector, and it was his sister who likely slipped him the poison that spared him being hung, drawn and quartered. Or at least being alive to endure it._


	21. Successions And Salami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May-August 1657.   
> Yet another addition to the family's younger generation does not make Stephen Roger Amerike feel old, especially as given some of the ways in which he and Jamie marked their last birthdays, he may not make it to old age! Meanwhile Cromwell considers salami tactics, a lot of men stand in a river, and someone wants a divorce.

**May 1657**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Yea, it is a sign!”

Stephen rolled his eyes at his ridiculous lover who was raising his hands in the air in mock astonishment.

“That four days after Cromwell turns down the kingship, Blake catches the Spanish plate fleet at Santa Cruz¹?” Stephen said. “Why not the same day?” 

“The Lord has His reasons”, Jamie said loftily. 

“Even for hams like you!” Stephen grinned.

“Well, He brought me to Staward and into your life”, Jamie smiled, “so I am hardly going to start questioning his judgement at this late stage.”

Stephen smiled at that.

“Even if you do snore.....”

“I do _not_ snore!”

Stephen glared crossly at his lover, who held a straight face for a few moments before cracking up.

“I want a divorce!”

“Sure, honey!”

MDCLVII

**June 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Of course I am pleased at his quitting”, Jamie said. “I do not like the fellow. But I cannot see Lambert sitting quietly in his country estate when the inevitable happens which, given the speculation in the news-sheets, will likely be some time in the next few years.”

Stephen nodded. Although the Humble Petition and Advice had been dropped, parliament had insisted on an Oath of Loyalty to Cromwell which all army leaders were expected to either sign or quit their posts over. Several had chosen the latter option, most notably the tempestuous John Lambert.

“He sees himself as a better successor that Dickon”, Stephen said, “and in some ways he is right in that. But his extreme views may be the thing that tips this country back into civil war again especially when, as we know he will, the king uses Cromwell's death to try to invade. Or at least to incite yet another revolt.”

“Is not speculating about the death of the Lord Protector treasonous?” Jamie pointed out.

“I hardly think that one can call it speculation when it is pretty certain to happen”, Stephen said, “and worse, happen soon. Unless he recovers like he did after.... that last time.”

He narrowly avoided mentioning Dunbar, whose aftermath still gave his lover the occasional nightmare from time to time. Thankfully holding the fellow was always successful in stopping it, but Stephen did not want to bring up past ghosts unnecessarily.

“I am fine”, Jamie said. “It is just the prospect of more war. We will be fifty next year and the beat of the martial drum is fading in my ears, but sometimes I still hear it.”

He came over and sat next to his lover, who wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.

MDCLVII

**July 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Stroke of genius, that man!” Jamie grinned, as he watched the party of men digging away in the river.

June had been a hot month and the first two weeks of July had been even hotter. So Stephen had suggested to Edward that this was an excellent time to take advantage of the low river level and dig out the bend just south of the cottage where, sometimes, leaves and branches from the overhanging trees blocked the river. Unfortunately they could not take down the trees as sandy bank would otherwise have collapsed, but widening the river by pushing back the opposite bank served the same purpose.

There were, of course, a whole number of volunteers eager to work in the cooling waters on such a hot day.

“I wonder how many centuries the Sewell has flowed to the sea?²” Stephen mused as they sat there. They were not actually idling; the workers knew that they had done their shift earlier that day even if Stephen had been arguably not that effective as he had been distracted by Jamie's bare chest the whole time! And the bastard had known that!

“Can it be thirteen years since its upper reaches echoed to one of the late king's last victories?” Jamie threw back. “Cropredy Bridge; he finished off that dolt Essex down in the West Country soon after but did not have the men to march on London, and the very next year there was Naseby.”

“More than a decade further on and the country still seems a mess”, Stephen sighed. “Everyone is wondering what will happen when Cromwell dies and trying to manoeuvre for position.”

“It will be interesting, that is for sure”, Jamie agreed. “And best viewed at a safe distance!”

MDCLVII

**July 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The very next day there was a letter for Stephen. He read it and smiled.

“Good news?”

The nobleman jumped violently, then turned to glare at his lover who had materialized behind him.

“Adey has written”, he scowled. “Nell is expecting again, sometime during that thing that we definitely do not mark at all every year's end.”

Jamie chuckled at his lover's evasion of a certain word. 

“That is great news”, he smiled. “We should celebrate.”

Stephen was about to agree when he realized.... ye Gods, how had even his lover gotten his hand up there?”

“Yeeeiiiasss!” he managed, in a voice that a St. Paul's choirboy would have been proud of.

MDCLVII

**August 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Maybe this is Cromwell's strategy for dealing with the Continental powers”, Stephen mused as he read his cousin Vale's letter from London. “What they call salami tactics; every time he intervenes, grab one or two towns and before you know it he will be running the whole place!”

Jamie chuckled at that.

“What is he after this time?” he asked. “We have still not gotten Dunkirk from the Spanish yet.”

“He wants Bremen as the price of his helping King Charles³ up in Sweden”, Stephen said. “I can see the advantages of us holding somewhere near the entrance to the Baltic, especially as most of our naval supplies come from there.”

“Did you not say that the North American colonies might be a better source for those?” Jamie asked.

“Yes”, Stephen said, “but even given the growing population over there it will be years before they can supply even a small part of what we need. Let alone the rival colonies over there and the long supply route that a hostile power could interfere with.”

“Bremen”, Jamie mused. “I could have come through it once but our ship went elsewhere; Hamburg if I recall correctly.”

“Is your memory going?” Stephen smiled.

“Perhaps, but I have double the sex drive to make up for it!” Jamie shot back. “Bedroom, you, naked, now!”

Stephen stood and saluted.

“Sir, yes sir!”

MDCLVII

Boy, did he pay for that sass!

MDCLVII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Isles off the North African coast. Twelve Spanish ships were sunk and five captured with damage to only one English ship._   
>  _2) Millennia, but although it has always flowed into the Thames, that river was diverted from its original course which from Oxford likely headed north-east to the east coast. It changed to its current one during an ice age around 450,000 years ago._   
>  _3) King Charles the Tenth of Sweden (ruled 1654-1660). Queen Christina had abdicated in 1654 – a case of jumping before she was pushed – and Charles, her cousin, took over. He got the country into an expensive and fruitless war with Poland-Lithuania, and when attacked during this by the Danes, asked for English help. A combination of pneumonia and his doctor's 'cures' finished him off just days before the Restoration in England._


	22. Dunkirk Or Bust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August-December 1657.   
> Cromwell tires of French deceit and lays it on the line; either they help the British take Dunkirk and Mardyke as promised, or the alliance is over. Stephen learns of a family loss that may have some longer term repercussions, while Jamie resents cancel culture and is absolutely sure that the Orange Option will never happen.

**August 1657**   
**Daring, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Jamie glared at his lover.

“That”, the soldier said testily, “is a judgemental silence.”

The two had just come away from the church at Daring after a rather eventful Sunday service. Normally they would not have strayed from their usual church at Charlton, but Thunor had been ill with a mild fever these past few weeks so they had stepped up to cover Edward's normal rota of visiting local churches around the estate. And the turbulent Reverend Linnaker had most definitely rubbed someone up the wrong way.

“We all know that the old fool is a Royalist”, Stephen said soothingly, “but yes, he did go too far in sneering at the late Blake. Claiming that come the restoration he himself would be taking a spade down to Westminster Abbey to dig him up¹.”

“Just forget all the good he did for England because he fought for the 'wrong' side or had the 'wrong' views”, Jamie grumbled. “This sort of cancel culture will only lead to trouble if the king is ever restored; peace is going to be impossible to achieve with bigots like him around.”

“I might have a word with Cromwell about him”, Stephen said. “I am sure that we have some colonies who could do with a new churchman – especially that nice hot one down Santiago way!”

Jamie smiled at that.

MDCLVII

**September 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It seems like the end of an era”, Stephen observed as he read the news-sheet.

“Cromwell getting tough with the French?” Jamie asked, surprised. “That is hardly news, surely?”

Stephen shook his head.

“No”, he said. “Lilburne has passed. I am glad that he found a sort of peace at the end; his ideas were good but before their time, and too much for the country to take on just now.”

“You mean thinking that common kerns like me should have the right to vote”, Jamie smiled. “Getting back to our Great Leader, I am impressed that he has stood up to Paris and threatened to pull out of the war against Spain if they do not honour their side of the deal and help us secure Dunkirk and Mardyke.”

“It also likely worries the king”, Stephen observed, “in that knowing Cromwell he has likely hinted or at least allowed the French to think that he might fully switch sides, thus undercutting Spanish support for a restoration. I would wager that Paris is already whining about perfidious Albion.”

“That from the most notorious side-changers on the whole Continent?” Jamie sneered. “I would say that even they could not be that hypocritical, but then I know them!”

MDCLVII

**September 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It looks like the French took the hint”, Stephen said. “We have taken Mardyke after a siege of just four days, and the allied armies are moving on Dunkirk.”

“Which will be a far harder nut to crack”, Jamie warned. “I went through there on a couple of occasions and the walls are very impressive.”

“The news-sheets are saying that both the king and his brother are with the Spanish forces trying to relieve it”, Stephen said, frowning. “I hope that they are careful; if anything happens to them then all we have left is young Henry of Gloucester, who is not yet a man.”

Jamie thought about that.

“After Henry it is his sister Mary”, Stephen went on, “then her son the Prince of Orange. We could end up with a personal union of the Three Kingdoms with the United Provinces!”

“Like that could ever happen!” Jamie scoffed.

MDCLVII

Ah.

MDCLVII

**October 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I cannot but feel that my in-law is tempting fate somewhat”, Stephen said as he and Jamie lay together on the morning of All Hallow's Eve. “Just because this Second Protectorate Parliament actually managed to get a few things done he is now lining up a new Upper House.”

“Personally selected by him, of course”, Jamie smiled. “You know, one man deciding everything. What was the word for that again? Ah yes – monarchy!”

Stephen scowled at his teasing lover.

“At least we are spared the presence of the unpleasant Reverend Linnaker”, he said. “It seems he considered the New World a better alternative than Cromwell's suggestion of sending him to Ireland.”

“One can only hope that he catches something horrible out there”, Jamie muttered.

“That is not very Christian”, his lover pointed out.

The soldier grinned, and proceeded to do something to Stephen that was arguably even less Christian. There was a noise that, thankfully went unheard by anyone except a couple of pigeons that had been pecking at the ground by the fence, both of which took off in a hurry.

MDCLVII

**November 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Once again our king in exile disappoints”, Stephen sighed. “Does he really think that Cromwell is so little informed that he has not secured the ports against this plan to seize one of them for a Spanish-backed invasion? Let alone the fact that it will only make those with memories think 'Armada' and refuse to help a king imposed on us by foreign guns.”

“I am coming to think that this second Charles Stuart thinks things through as little as the first”, Jamie sighed. “Worse, like his late father he believes that anything goes when it comes to recovering his throne. There might well be a base of support for a king to rule once more, but while the Army remains so strong it can come to nothing.”

“I am increasingly fearful that it will all turn bad very quickly when Cromwell does pass on”, Stephen sighed. “The likes of Lambert and Fleetwood are biding their time for now; they are loyal to their leader but once he is gone they will look to seize power. And with the army behind them, who is to stop them? Certainly not young Dickon.”

MDCLVII

**November 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

There was news of a familial loss a few days later. Stephen was more than impressed that his sister-in-law Diana had learned of it so quickly.

“John's elder son Alistair has died”, he told Jamie. “Killed over a land-claim of all things; he called out his opponent and they fought a duel.”

“And Diana knows within a few months”, Jamie said, similarly impressed.

“The other son Reginald wrote to Adey”, Stephen explained, “and the letter came through London as most do. Reginald is headed further west, he said.”

The soldier looked sharply at his lover.

“There is something more there”, he said shrewdly. “What is it?”

“Reginald said that he fears for his father's sanity after Alistair's death”, Stephen said. “The boy is a man now, married with a son of his own, and his new wife pressed him to move in order to get away from his father. She said that she was scared of him.”

“Johnnie was always but a few bricks short of an out-house”, Jamie said dismissively. “No change there, then. It is lucky that he is three thousand miles away, which I suppose is far enough.”

MDCLVII

Ah again.

MDCLVII

**December 1657**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Cromwell has had Dickon appointed to the Council of State”, Stephen told Jamie. It was nearly Christmas, and the disappearance of the major-generals had led some in the valley to (very quietly) mark the festive season. Especially as the military base at King's Linton had been closed and the soldiers moved to Oxford. 

“Setting him up for the succession”, Jamie said. “Eldest surviving son to inherit. Like a king.”

Stephen shook his head at him. 

“The general opinion is that the boy is but a shadow of his illustrious father”, he said. I fear that that opinion is right.”

“Hardly a boy”, Jamie said. “He is thirty-one if I recall, although I suppose that that does make him young enough to be a son to either of us.”

The nobleman rolled his eyes at yet another snarky reminder that they would both be a certain age the following year. A year he was both dreading and looking forward to, especially as his lover was now keeping a notebook to record 'ideas' to mark their birthdays!

A worryingly large notebook!

MDCLVII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Sadly the vindictiveness of the Restoration regime did lead to Blake and lot of other major Interregnum figures being disinterred and thrown into a mass grave in St. Margaret's Church, adjoining the abbey._


	23. The Bare Necessities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> January-May 1658.   
> Having actually done some good in its first session, everyone is shocked when Cromwell suddenly ends parliament for no apparent reason. Stephen is also concerned over the fact that he and Jamie both hit fifty – with a bang! The nobleman may not have a prayer, but he does have a teasing lover who, God help him, is already planning for their next birthdays!

**January 1658**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The new year started off with some good news from Northumberland. As well as confirming what their nephew Reginald had written, Aidan had also informed them that Eleanor had had a son and Stephen was once again a great-uncle. The boy was to be called Egbert.

“The lineage secure for two generations now”, Jamie said when he told him. 

Stephen did sometimes wonder whether his lover felt that, despite what the two men had for which he thanked God almost every day, the soldier did not sometimes miss out on having had sons of his own. That he had refrained from..... that for some six years until he had joined Stephen in Scotland was, he thought, a miracle and an example of the devotion that he did not really deserve. Although he worked hard to remedy that.

All right, he mostly lay back and let Jamie work hard, but that was the same thing.

Yes it _was!_

MDCLVIII

**January 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“That is not a good omen”, Jamie said when Stephen told him the news from London. “I feared that this Second Protectorate Parliament went too well in its first session, and now this.”

“Spending a whole day debating whether to call the upper chamber 'The Other House' or 'The House of Lords' does seem a waste of time when there is so much that needs fixing in this country”, Stephen said. “And they are still angry at all those excluded members. I fear that this will all end badly.”

MDCLVIII

**February 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

Three weeks later, it did end. Badly.

“Dissolved, and not so much as an explanation”, Jamie said. “Cromwell should have become king after all; he has all the powers of one and more.”

“Diana thinks that she may have an idea as to the cause”, Stephen said. “The Lord Protector has scheduled a whole set of meetings with top army commanders to 'discuss grievances'. I would wager that some of those grievances are parliament's persistent unwillingness to cough up the moneys owing to our fighting men.”

“It is pitiful!” Jamie exclaimed. “We put our lives on the line to serve our country, and they cannot even bring themselves to raise the taxes – few of which they themselves will have to pay, we can be sure – to fulfil their promises. Little wonder that the soldiers are angry. Why should they not be?”

“At least there is the release that they know Cromwell will listen to them”, Stephen said, “provided that they approach him properly. I think that Diana is likely correct and that there was a strong move in the army to get rid of parliament. Cromwell dissolving it in person was perhaps better than having soldiers march into the chamber and escort them all out again.”

“And so another parliament crashes and burns”, Jamie sighed. “What next, I wonder?”

MDCLVIII

**March 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I doubt very much that this Treaty of Roskilde¹ will stick, given the power of Sweden just now”, Stephen told his lover, “but it will improve our own trade with the Baltic for as long as it holds.”

“And shed a good light on Cromwell for helping the parties reach it”, Jamie said. “For as long as it holds.”

“The same could be said about most if not all treaties”, Stephen said.

“What holds is important”, Jamie said. “Luckily I hold the greatest treasure in my arms right now.”

Stephen smiled, then yelped in surprise when he realized exactly where his lover was holding him. Seriously, how was someone almost fifty years of age that flexible?

Moments later, he no longer had a brain left with which to think.

MDCLVIII

**March 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Yarmouth, the one over Norfolk way.”

Jamie nodded.

“Hardly surprising”, he said. “Easily accessible from the United Provinces, and like King's Lynn they did rebel that one time during the first war. If old Newcastle had had his wits about him and marched to their aid, the Eastern Association might have been crushed and the king could have seriously threatened London. Fortune only offers her favours a few times in war.”

“I do wonder at our king seemingly being unable to get the message, though”, Stephen said. “I know that he has different groups of advisors telling him different things; I do hope that he is not going to follow his father and refuse to listen to 'melancholy men'.”

“You mean those who tell him unpleasant truths”, Jamie said. “Say what you will about Cromwell – and many do – he does encourage those who are upset with something or other to actually tell him about it, and they can do so knowing that there will be no repercussions afterwards.”

“Unlike for poor Balmerino, who nearly lost his life merely asking the late king to tone things down a notch or two”, Stephen said. “I do not like this tone in Cromwell's letter, either. Yet again he sounds just tired of the whole business. But then he is nearly sixty.”

“Says someone who like me will be fifty this year”, Jamie grinned. “No shuffling off this mortal coil for you, my liege – or at least not until I have worked through my notebooks come April and May! Possibly June as well!”

Stephen shuddered in anticipation.

MDCLVIII

**April 1658**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

The Earl of Bradstock frowned as his wife directed him past St. Giles.

“Were we not attending our local church this weekend, darling?” he asked.

Thunor gave him one of her most put-upon sighs.

“It _is_ the twenty-eighth, dear”, she said as if that somehow explained everything.

He just looked at her.

“Five days after the twenty-third?” she prompted.

Still blank. She sighed as they approached the footbridge.

“A certain cottage just over the ridge from here”, she said. “Where one of the gentlemen had a birthday last Tuesday and the other gentleman will have one one next Wednesday. Both rather important birthdays.”

He suddenly went bright red.

“Oh”, he said, wincing. “I get it.”

“So doubtless did Lord Amerike!” she smiled. “I could hear moaning when I went for a riverside walk the other day; they really need to remember to shut their window of a morning. They will hardly be in church today – especially with those bare boards!”

He winced again. Ouch!

MDCLVIII

**May 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

What little was left of Stephen Roger Amerike's brain wondered if he would ever be able to come again. The number of orgasms that Jamie had wrung out of him in the past eight days – even the magic cooling unguent from London which some bastard of a lawyer cousin had sent with a note that positively reeked of smirk! – could only do so much. Stephen was fifty years of age and he seriously doubted that he would reach next week, let alone fifty-one!

His tormentor loomed over him, and Stephen's shattered brain realized with horror that once again he was completely at his lover's mercy. He would have objected but speech was one of those things that was a bit beyond him just now.

“Not to worry”, Jamie grinned. “I am not going to break you, my liege.”

Stephen smiled. Well, he thought about smiling. The muscle co-ordination was another thing that was still beyond him just now.

“Of course not”, Jamie grinned. “I want you alive for when we _really_ celebrate at sixty!”

The normally not that religious nobleman started praying fervently.

MDCLVIII

**May 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I have not seen either you or Mr. Buchanan in church these past few weeks”, Reverend James said as the two men walked – well, one of them may have been hobbling very slightly – past his cottage where he was working away at his garden. “I hope that you are both well.”

Stephen glared warningly at his lover, who he just knew was thinking something along the line of 'bare boards', which his bastard former charge over at the Hall had already mentioned in conversation. Especially as said lover was effecting his most innocent look. 

“I had a fall”, the nobleman covered, hoping that he did not blush as he stretched the truth to a man of God. “But I am all right now.”

“Yes, my lord has been up and down a lot this month”, said someone who was severely pushing his luck. 

“Ah”, the vicar said. “I trust that we will see you both this Sabbath, then?”

“Definitely, sir”, Jamie said. “I will make sure that my lord will be 'up' for it.”

Stephen blushed fiercely, said goodbye to the vicar and hustled his grinning lover home. Honestly, the fellow was getting worse!

And he was all his!

MDCLVIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Sweden, which at this time included modern Finland, the area around the future St. Petersburg, Estonia and parts of Latvia, gained full control of its whole peninsula. They also gained Trøndelag in central Norway which cut that country in two and the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm, but both those areas refused to accept Swedish rule and were returned three years later (Treaty of Copenhagen)._


	24. A Dark And Stormy Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May-September 1658.   
> Dark times loom as the Lord Protector's health steadily declines. There is a right royal battle in France as England secures a foothold on the southern Channel Coast once more, and someone is caught with their hand in the biscuit-jar. The skies turn dark – literally – then one dark and stormy night, the worst happens.....

**May 1658**   
**Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“I think that this what they call one of those offers one cannot refuse”, Stephen said.

“Technically we are not being offered it”, Jamie pointed out. “It is only the London merchants who are being 'gifted the opportunity' to send supplies to our men now they are finally besieging Dunkirk, because we do not have a parliament that can raise moneys to pay them properly.”

“Nevertheless Cromwell is family”, Stephen said, “and Edward agrees that we should send him money in this instance. Anne also wishes to see her father.”

Jamie looked at him shrewdly.

“Does she suspect what so many are saying?” he asked.

“That he is fading?” Stephen asked. “Yes. I suspect that that is one reason why she is visiting although as before she and Luke will go to Hampton rather than London. I am relieved at that; the plague is back in the eastern docks again.”

“After over two hundred years it is just another part of London life”, Jamie said. “Thankfully we seem to be over the worst of it; they say that it struck down as many as half of the country's population when it first came here in the middle of the fourteenth century. Though that may have been an exaggeration¹.”

“I would not wish to go to London either way”, Stephen said. “A big, dirty place. I cannot see anything that would drag me there ever again.”

MDCLVIII

Ah.

MDCLVIII

**June 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“You are a suspicious cove, Stephen Roger Amerike”, Jamie laughed. “You always think the worst of people.”

“I prefer being right”, Stephen said crisply, “and thinking the worst of people means that I usually am. I jam sure that there is more to this.”

“Why?” Jamie asked. “I would have thought you would be out celebrating with the rest of the country, now that we have beaten off the Spanish relief effort² at Dunkirk. And the king had every right to be angry at his brother the Duke of York for risking his life amid the chaos of battle, especially as he is his heir for now.”

“I know that the king can hardly marry until – and if – he regains his late father's crown”, Stephen said. “But from what Diana writes about the Duke of York he is even more their father's son than the king. If Charles does not marry and produce heirs, he might even be king one day. The king is nearly thirty, after all.”

“Ooh, old age!” Jamie teased. “Coming from a fellow who just passed fifty recently.”

“Barely, thanks to some horn-dog that I could mention!” Stephen muttered, though he smiled as he said it.

MDCLVIII

**June 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Well, England has a Continental port again”, Stephen said as he read the latest news-sheet. “Dunkirk has fallen.”

“I wish that this weather was in the mood to celebrate”, Jamie grumbled as he poked the fire. “It is more frigid January than flaming June!”

“Edward is already making provisional plans to buy in more grain if it continues”, Stephen said reassuringly.

Jamie just looked at him. The nobleman nodded.

“Yes, Thunor told him to”, he said. 

“That is one scary lady”, Jamie sighed. “She caught young Edward taking a biscuit out of the jar the other day and really told him off.”

“Very wise”, Stephen said. “If you lay down the law then everyone knows where you stand.”

“What if you lay down the nobleman instead?” Jamie asked hopefully.

Stephen sighed. His lover was terrible.... and heading out of the door. Yes!

MDCLVIII

**July 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“It looks like Cromwell's much-vaunted deal to stop the war between our Protestant partners in the Baltic has collapsed”, Stephen sighed. “The Swedes have broken the terms and have attacked the Danes.”

“A rogue state”, Jamie agreed. “Not what you need for peace and stability. Or to secure our trade with the area.”

“He has also called for any military volunteers....”

“No!”

Stephen looked up in surprise at his lover's sudden vociferousness.

“I would never ask you to go, Bucky”, he said. “As if I could do without you!”

He had the rare satisfaction of seeing his lover blush at that.

MDCLVIII

**July 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Adey is not happy about it”, Stephen admitted to his lover, “but you know Aethelburh. She has set her mind on this fellow even if he is off to the New World next month.”

The nobleman's niece back in Northumberland had become engaged to a Yorkshire merchant called Peter Goodfellow, who hailed from Scarborough on the North Riding coast. Some of his neighbours had founded a settlement called Black Point over in the Massachusetts Bay Colony³ and he wished to join them.

“Knowing how feisty some ladies can be in this family, I amazed that Adey actually tried to say no!” Jamie grinned. 

“She is his only daughter”, Stephen said, “but at least both Theo and Alfie have children now. The line is secure enough, one hopes.”

“And after them it is you”, Jamie said. _“My liege.”_

Stephen was about to agree when he realized; Jamie only usually called him that when.... come on, two of the clock in the afternoon?

MDCLVIII

Two of the clock in the afternoon!

MDCLVIII

**August 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“Oh.”

Jamie looked across at his lover. That had been a rather ominous 'oh'.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Elizabeth Claypole has died”, Stephen sighed. “Aged twenty-nine. Far too young.”

His lover just looked confused.

“And?” he asked.

“Anne's sister”, he said. “Cromwell's daughter, whom he loved despite her frequent pleadings for mercy towards those who had crossed him.”

“That must have kept her busy, then”, Jamie said.

“I know that despite all, he valued her dearly”, Stephen said. “This will I am afraid hit him hard.”

MDCLVIII

**August 1658**  
 **Stalwarton, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“That is excellent news!” Stephen beamed. “You must be so proud, Thunor.”

“Yes”, the countess said. “And also possessed of good hearing.”

All three men looked at her in confusion. She stared pointedly at her husband.

“Going to Captain Quicksilver's rooms in the stables so you could strut around yelling 'yes, yes, yes, I am the man!' she said reprovingly. “Really?”

The earl blushed fiercely. Stephen and Jamie both laughed at him.

MDCLVIII

**August 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“If the king has spies where he should have spies, I am sure that this has reached him by now”, Stephen said with a sigh.

The news from London was not good. The Lord Protector had indeed been hit hard by the death of his daughter and although Luke and Anne had diverted to the capital to see him, they had said that he was definitely worsening. Luke was sending daily letters through Diana's courier service but none of them were remotely hopeful. And the recipients up in Oxfordshire both knew that, whatever one thought of Cromwell, the future beyond him was an uncertain one.

England was approaching yet more 'interesting times'.

MDCLVIII

**September 1658**  
 **Charlton-on-Sewell, Oxfordshire, ENGLAND**

“The doom-mongers were right”, Stephen sighed. “That huge storm yesterday did mark the end. He has gone.”

“And left it all to his son, a poor shadow of the father”, Jamie sighed. “Was that another letter from Luke?”

The nobleman shook his head.

“No”, he said. “Cromwell. He must have had it written out days ago; we know from Luke that he had that brief rally before he succumbed. He frees me from any obligation to his son and successor, and has made it clear to Dickon that he should not inveigle either of us in what is to come.”

“What is to come indeed?” Jamie asked. “Only the Good Lord knows – and the one fellow who he seemingly talked to on a regular basis is no more!”

MDCLVIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _1) Because we have little idea of the total population at the time, our best modern guess is that it may indeed have killed around half the people on the Continent and in England. Some English villages were wiped out but most were resettled after the first wave had passed on, although quite a few shifted slightly in abandoning plague-infested cottages._   
>  _2) The Battle of the Dunes. The numbers on both sides were about the same, 27,000 Anglo-French against 28,000 Spanish (the latter including 2,000 English Royalists)._   
>  _3) In fact the town had, unbeknown to those in England, been incorporated earlier that month as Scarborough. It is today in the state of Maine, then still part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony._


End file.
